Seduction
by EllisW
Summary: The Unova league is just around the corner and Ash is training harder than ever to fulfil his dream to become a Pokemon master. Iris meanwhile has been acting quite a lot different lately, and doesn't seem herself. She's been thinking- thinking about something that is about to blow Ash's mind! Negaishipping AshXIris
1. Preparation

**Seduction- Ash X Iris**

_Word from the author: Hi everyone! You may or may not remember me, I've written 2 stories before, "Nobody Better" and "More than a Friend". A few of you may still be wondering about "More than a Friend", and in reality I'm still wondering what to do with it! If I manage to finish this story properly then I'll have a look at finishing it, however it'll be difficult to carry on from something I started 2 years ago! So we'll have to wait and see._

_I hope you enjoy the first chapter of this NegaiShipping story, I would really appreciate it too if you could drop in some reviews to let me know what you think! Thanks for reading and enjoy!_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, Nintendo or even GameFreak. Just in case you thought I did.

**Chapter 1: Preparation**

The sun began to rise and the cries of Undella Town's native Pokemon began to become heard. The waves gently meeting the shore while the temperature began to rise. The sleepy trio of Ash, Cilan and Iris began to wake up ahead of another day. Another day in the region of Unova.

For Ash and his partner Pikachu, the Unova league is just around the corner, and intense training is required. They had spent ages travelling the region for 8 gym badges, like he had done four times before. Only in the past to come crashing out at the final hurdle. Ash is never one to take losing easily, however over the years it has become something he's had to come to terms with, although this year he is determined to break his duck and finally make a name for himself in the spotlight. For the next week, the only thing in his mind is training, training, and more training.

Things are different for Iris, on her quest to become a Dragon Master, she has found herself in a very frustrating situation. Inside one of her PokeBalls lies great power, however great power that is still untamed. Iris is still hoping to stretch her bond with her Dragonite, however trying to handle the free-willed dragon is quickly becoming one of the hardest tasks she's ever been through.

The third member of the group is the creative Connoisseur, Cilan. He's in a perfectly relaxed frame of mind right now, and is looking forward to Ash's big tournament coming up soon. Being as unselfish as ever, he was only interested in helping others, and recently began to notice a pattern in Iris' behaviour recently.

"She's going through a really difficult stage in her journey right now... Which is perfectly normal. However she's been day-dreaming much more than usual recently while becoming increasingly independent... Which is strange- I wonder what's wrong with her?" He thought to himself at the start of the day. With every day though brought new beginnings, and today was Ash's day to improve his skills.

"Morning everyone, remember to smear the factor 50 sun cream on today as the weather report said we're going through yet another heatwave!" Cilan announced while beaming, he was awake and as energetic as ever.

"What's happened to all of my sun cream?! There's barely any left! PIKACHU! You better not have been using my sun cream for lube again!" Ash shouted

"Oh sugar he knows" Pikachu's secret was unfortunately out...

"And that is why you should always bring extras on your journey! Such a kid!" said Iris blissfully, she couldn't resist, she knew that phrase always winded him up.

"Hang on WHAT?! Now mine's all gone!" Pikachu sunk behind the bed. Coming to his rescue, Cilan stepped in with the truth: "You must have used it all last week". Iris let out a huge sigh.

"You can have the rest of mine if you want Iris!" Ash happily offered, leaving himself out of the equation.

"You'll burn Ash!"

"It's fine, honestly, Oshawott can keep me cool throughout the day."

"If you say so... It's your fault if you burn yourself though!" Iris said, teasing Ash once again.

The trio got themselves ready and ran outside ready for training. Ash let the full crew out of their PokeBalls: Oshawott, Pignite, Snivy, Scraggy, Krookodile, Unfezant, Palpitoad and Boldore. He spoke to all of them on the big tournament coming up before endeavouring to perfect their moves throughout the whole day. This was typical for Ash, once again demonstrating how adamant he was on getting his Pokemon in top shape for the Unova league.

Iris and Cilan were left on the sidelines today which left Cilan with the perfect opportunity to talk to Iris about her thoughts as once again she was staring into the distance.

"Hey Iris, I've just been wondering lately... Is everything alright?"

Iris looked around at him, and began to think. "Yeah everything's fine! Ash is occupied, I'm happy, you're happy, everything's fine!" She put on a smile while speaking. Although Cilan could tell it was fake- her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Are you sure? Because remember you're sitting next to a top class Connoisseur here!"

"I'm fine Cilan, as far as I'm aware there are no problems." She seemed a lot more serious this time. So Cilan waited a while before confronting her again.

Time passed, and Iris knew after a while that Cilan was keeping an eye on her, and eventually the fake smile wore off- you can only wear one for so long.

"I only ask because recently you seem a little down..."

"I'm only down right now because I want to be training my Pokemon like Ash!"

"Well that's definitely not true..." he thought

She knew that didn't work very well so she tried to change the subject swiftly.

"So Cilan, if I can ask you anything, then can you answer me this. How can I put it... Have you ever thought about love?"

The question threw Cilan back and hit him like a thunderbolt.

"Love- well that's a big word for only four letters! Ah love... The mixture of two flavours coming together to make something special... I'll be honest with you Iris, it's not something I think about too often! I haven't looked at someone any differently than a friend for as long as I can remember! What about you? Strange for you to ask such a question!"

"Well it only really hit me the other day. It confuses me though. Ah well you snooze you lose! I'm going to focus on being a Dragon Master."

"There's someone out there for everyone Iris! Although you should always focus on your goals."

"You've got a point... Although the thought of being with someone sounds... You know, exciting! Don't get me wrong though I love you and Ash! Ah wait! As friends that is!" She went into a small panic. Cilan laughed, there wasn't really an intelligent way to reply to that, so he just left Iris be. He noticed that Iris' expression varied as time passed. Sometimes she would be gazing forward while smiling, other times she would be looking down while frowning. A lot was obviously going through her mind. But her train of thoughts came to a sudden halt at the sight of Ash laying on the floor. Iris and Cilan rushed over to him while Oshawott was spraying water all over him in an attempt to keep him hydrated. Ash was breathing heavily, and looked extremely hot and bothered.

"Quick! Get him inside, it looks like he's got heatstroke!" Cilan cried as he grabbed Ash's legs. Iris took hold of his arms and looked into his eyes and he slowly fell unconscious.

"I told you that you would hurt yourself! You're such a kid!" Iris screamed, she was clearly distraught about what Ash had done to himself.

They gently put Ash down on one of the beds in the hotel they had been residing in. He was in some real discomfort.

"I'll call Nurse Joy quickly" Cilan said.

"Call Nurse Joy" Cilan commanded to Siri on his iPhone. Within 5 minutes, Nurse Joy was on the scene. She checked on Ash before consulting Cilan on what to do. They agreed on taking him into the Pokemon Center to be looked after. So there was Ash quickly thrown into the back of the ambulance on his way to the Pokemon Center. The whole situation was getting too much for Iris, who wasn't feeling herself anyway. Concerned for her friend's welfare, she started to wipe a few tears from her eyes.

Once they had arrived at the center, Ash was put into a room to sleep for the night.

"Thanks for everything Nurse Joy, hopefully he'll sleep well tonight. Iris, I'm going to go and get some supplies, I don't know how long I'll be, although you have my number. You'll be fine looking after Ash while he recovers won't you?"

"I'll be fine, I'll have Pikachu to keep me company!" Iris liked the sound of that idea. So Nurse Joy went back to her duties and Cilan went out to get some supplies for the coming nights. As the hours ticked on, Pikachu quickly fell asleep next to Ash, leaving Iris to sit there, alone in her thoughts, while Ash was sleeping right in front of her.

"Oh he's such a kid... I hope he wakes up soon though, as much I tease him I miss him and he's only been asleep for a few hours... I don't get to meet many people like him, especially at the academy in Opelucid City, I couldn't get on with anyone there... Come on Ash wake up, I just want to talk to you!"


	2. Making a Move

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon, Nintendo or GameFreak.

**Chapter 2: Making a move**

Midnight struck, and a new day had come. However, while Ash was getting some much needed sleep, Iris was still sitting there awake, pondering about what had just happened. Ash was a very heavy sleeper, so Iris could afford to think aloud. Axew was asleep in the bed behind Iris while Pikachu was asleep next to Ash. Summer has been at its hottest over the past few days, and was laying down no mercy when the sun went down. The night was incredibly hot, with Iris sitting there sweating. Not a single gust of wind blew for ages. Silence had never sounded so loud.

The feeling of being alone wasn't doing Iris any good.

"This is almost what it's been feeling like over the past couple of days I guess... Only me to look after myself... I suppose now I have to look after Ash now thanks to his own naivety. What have _I _got to look forward to? What have _I _got that's exciting to do? What have _I _got to train towards? *****Sigh * Cilan's almost in the exact same position as me, but you don't see him moaning... I suppose he has a knack of finding something to keep him occupied- he's more assertive in that sense... Why am I always so shy towards everything..? I suppose Ash's Unova league challenge seems a bit exciting... I suppose watching him train is quite fun... Why am I holding it back..? I suppose being around Ash is something that I enjoy and find exciting... *Sigh * What am I even saying..."

Unfortunately for Iris, Pikachu isn't a heavy sleeper.

So while she was lost in her thoughts, a faint giggle was heard coming from the bed, a giggle too high-pitched to be Ash's, but the next worst thing, Pikachu. Iris' heart started to pound against her chest while adrenalin surged around her body.

"Did he seriously just hear all of that..?" She whispered under her breath. She slowly crept towards the bed and there was the yellow mouse smirking. He quickly turned over with his back to Iris, quickly enough for her think she was imagining things. Pikachu couldn't contain his laughter for much longer though, and eventually burst out laughing. Somehow, Ash didn't wake up. Iris now knew that he was listening to everything. She marched over again and picked the yellow bastard up who still couldn't stop laughing. Events took a turn for the worse when Pikachu tragically then started to wet himself laughing. In a sudden panic, Iris ran over to the corner of the room to let Pikachu calm himself down, where eventually he fell back to sleep again.

Iris sighed: "Where's Cilan when you need him..." Worse still, her true feelings were now known. All of the rushing around left Iris in a heavy sweat. She also noticed that Ash was beginning to sweat under the layers of clothes he was wearing. He didn't look comfortable at all and it certainly wouldn't make him feel any better. Unfortnuately, Iris had now found herself in a sensitive situation- she would have to attempt to take Ash's coat off. She gently leaned over to try and get the zip of the coat, and slowly began to pull it down. The sound was annoyingly loud and Iris didn't like the prospect of Pikachu kicking off again. Eventually though, the zip was down, now for the tricky bit. To get the coat off she would have to hope that Ash would turn over, although trying would always prove to be a difficult task.

5 Minutes had passed, and Ash was as still as a rock. Out of sheer frustration Iris started violently tugging at his jacket. The constant pulling was enough to see Ash slowly begin to wake up, where he found himself immediately stunned by his surroundings. He was too tired to speak, but could only think about what the heck was going on...

"... Where am I? Is that Iris? Why is she doing that..? What is she even doing?!"

Ash's heart started to beat faster and his blood pressure was on the rise. His vision was blurry and he began to panic. "Is Iris trying to resuscitate me?! Am I dying?!" With all the strength he could gather, Ash shot up off his back and sat up, the force of it threw Iris down to the floor. This didn't trouble Iris, as she was glad to see Ash up and moving again. He was still in a state of shock, and still very weak. Iris sprung back to her feet and gently took Ash's hand and sat back down next to him to calm him down. Ash seemed very uneasy about Iris holding his hand and Iris immediately realized that and let go- she didn't know why she did that herself, only to then catch a glimpse of Pikachu smirking across the room .

"What happened?" Ash asked

"Your training got so intense that the heat got to you. I told you to put sun cream on- you're such a kid!"

"Hey! I gave it all to you!" Ash angrily replied.

Iris laughed a little. "Well at least you're beginning to sound like your old self again..!"

"Very funny... But where's Cilan?"

"He's gone off to get a few bits for the next few days..."

"So you've been staying here all night watching over me?"

"I suppose I have!"

"Wow... Thanks Iris!"

Strangely, that meant a lot to her, which gave her the confidence to ask something she's been thinking on...

"So Ash, now that it's just the two of us-" She raised her voice a bit, a clear indication to tell Pikachu to go to sleep. "- I just wanted to ask about your thoughts on something that's just been on my mind a bit recently... Have you ever thought about love?"

Deep thought pondered for a while, Ash looked as if you just told him something in a foreign language.

"Erm no, not really- I just want to become a Pokemon master!"

Sadly for Iris, Ash was definitely back to his old self.

As soon as Ash had killed the conversation, Cilan came bursting in, noticeably pleased to see Ash back up and talking again. He put his bags down and checked on Ash's temperature.

"Thanks for watching over him while I was gone Iris, I'll take over from here! You can finally get some sleep now!"

Iris was relieved to hear this, it had been quite a night. She walked into the other room where her bed was to see Pikachu laying down there.

"*Sigh * You're going to tell Ash about everything now aren't you Pikachu..."

"Do you like him though?"

"I don't even know... I'm just very confused right now and I need to go to sleep..."

"Well don't worry I'll keep my nut down on everything!" Pikachu winked and then ran out of the room. Iris was too tired to think about whether Pikachu was telling the truth or not. But one thing was stuck on her mind...

"Do I really like him..?"

_Word from the author: Get ready for the next chapter, because that's when things start to get interesting..._


	3. Recovery

_A quick message from the author: Thank you for the reviews you've been writing about the story so far! As we enter into these next few chapters, we'll start to see Iris coming out of her shell a little bit more, but let's not forget that Ash has got the Unova league on his mind which is still to come!_

_Once again, let me know what you think of this chapter and the story so far by dropping in a review, I'd really appreciate it! _

_Thanks!_

**Chapter 3: Recovery**

The morning had finally come. Iris somehow managed to drag herself out of bed, she had a terrible night's sleep, and it was all down to one particularly horrible nightmare. She sat on the bed, sweating still from waking up screaming, she was still in shock from imagining things all too realistic to bear. As with all dreams, you very quickly forget them when you wake up; however sometimes nightmares prove to be a lot more difficult to forget. She couldn't remember all of it, but certain parts were still stuck in her mind. It featured, of all people, Ash. He had just come out as the champion of Unova, with his name being sung throughout the entire region. It was late in the evening after the final and the trio were back in the hotel with Ash still buzzing. Iris felt that this was the perfect opportunity to talk to Ash about her feelings, so without a moment's hesitation she decided to just go for it. Cilan was washing himself in the bathroom with worked for Iris quite conveniently leaving just her and Ash. After telling Ash everything, it was apparent it didn't go too well with him. Silence filled the room for what felt like an eternity, before Ash packed up his things and abruptly left without any warning. That was it. Ash was completely gone from Iris' life, he was now nothing but memories.

The feeling of being alone haunted Iris for the entire night, it made her realize just how much she liked being around Ash and Cilan. But then came that question again, she just couldn't answer it... "Do I really like him?"

"I don't know... I'm just going to get dressed and continue with my life! Besides, I have a patient to attend to!" She thought to herself, in an attempt to motivate herself for the day.

Ash woke up an hour after Iris did, while Cilan was still asleep on the seat by the bed. It looked as if he was watching over Ash all night, being the loyal person he is that was unsurprising. Ash was looking like his old self again, and once Iris had walked in he looked please to see her, even though _she _wasn't looking herself.

"Morning Iris! You don't look so good, did you have a bad night?"

"Uh? Oh no it's nothing, I just had trouble sleeping!"

"Oh right... Did you have a nightmare or something?"

She paused for a bit. It was almost as if he knew everything and was teasing her into trying to talk about it. She looked down:

"Oh no it was nothing..."

"Well if you don't wanna talk about it then it's fine- you can tell me anything though!"

She couldn't tell if he was being genuine, but he was in an unusually warm mood this morning.

Dead on 11am, Nurse Joy walked in:

"Good morning everyone! Today's going to be another hot one, so I strongly recommend you head down to the PokeMart to stock up on sun cream! Especially you Ash- we know what you're like!" She announced before walking out of the room.

"This time we'll make sure you're protected! I'm going to go down to the PokeMart then, I'll be 10 minutes, you'll be fine with Cilan won't you?"

"Yeah I hope he wakes up soon though!"

"Me too, now don't you get out of bed mister!" Iris teased before walking out.

"Why is she always like that to me..." Ash thought to himself. At long last though, Cilan finally decided to wake up.

"Morning Ash, you feeling better?"

"Yeah a lot better- it isn't like you to be sleeping in this late!"

"Gosh what time is it?"

"It's just after 11am!"

"Uhh, I'm so hungry... I'm gonna go and get some breakfast... You'll be fine on your own right? You'll still have Pikachu and everyone else."

"Yeah don't worry I'll be fine, get me a packet of Skittles while you're down there yeah?"

Cilan then walked out of the room leaving Ash in the bed with Pikachu dashing towards him.

_Meanwhile, at the PokeMart:_

Iris had just bought 5 bottles of factor 50 sun cream, when she noticed a zombie-like Cilan slowly crawling towards her.

"Wow Cilan what's wrong? I thought you were still asleep!"

"Uhh, I just walked over to the other side of town, only to find that the McDonald's breakfast menu had just shut... I'm starving..."

Cilan then proceeded to order what was his late breakfast before sitting down at a table with Iris. It was unlike Cilan to shovel everything down his throat as aggressively as he could, but that's was what he did as Iris sat there in horror. It had quite an effect though, it must've been the coffee, because all of a sudden, Cilan was back to his normal cheery self again!

"Right Iris do you mind if I ask you a few questions before we go up to the room again?" Cilan put a serious face on and stared at Iris.

"Um sure, go ahead!"

"What do you think of Ash?" Cilan started questioning.

Iris paused slightly, she was a bit surprised to be asked that.

"He's a great friend to have..." She started to blush slightly and couldn't maintain eye-contact. Cilan quickly butted in:

"Say no more! It's unsurprising to see you're shy but it's been obvious over the past few days you've been thinking about him. You've probably been asking yourself this, so I'll go ahead and ask it again, this time try and find an answer!" Cilan paused for a second.

"Do you really like him?"

Iris was now in a spot she wasn't comfortable in being in. But, after hours of thinking, there is really no point in denying reality. Time to face up to the fact.

"Yes, I think I do..."

_Meanwhile back at the Pokemon Center:_

"Morning Ash, how are we doing today?"

"A lot better buddy, hopefully they'll let me out later today..."

"I doubt that, you know how tight they are on irresponsible trainers... Anyway, what do you think of Iris?" Pikachu started questioning.

"What about her?" Ash seemed puzzled.

"Do you like her?" He got to the point.

"As a friend... What are you trying to say?" Ash still didn't understand where Pikachu was getting at.

"She's very kind to you isn't she?" He started luring him in.

"She teases me a lot..."

"She just likes playing around with you."

"I suppose she was kind to watch over me like that..." Ash began to think about it a bit more.

"So have you ever thought about love?"

"Well... once or twice I suppose..."

Their conversation was brought to an end when Cilan and Iris arrived through the door.

"We're back!" cheered Iris

"Good news Ash, we've just got the word from Nurse Joy that you're clear to be discharged, she just said to take it easy though!" announced Cilan

"Just promise me this though Ash... Don't be so stupid next time! I was worrying about you!" Iris cried

"Yeah, I'm sorry... but hey, at least everything's back to normal now!"

The trio spent the afternoon packing up before checking out of the Pokemon Center. Ash could now resume his preparation for the ever-nearer Unova league. Meanwhile though...

"Looks like they're about to leave, it's time to put the plan into action..."

Three silhouettes watched on through the window...


	4. Did he really mean it?

_Author's message: I feel as if this story is progressing quite slowly, compared to "More Than a Friend"- which by the way could potentially be completed after this story is done! However don't expect a particularly good ending to it though... _

_More to the point though, we're going to see Ash and Iris' relationship get turned up a lot more now, hopefully you all find this story interesting! Please let me know by writing a review! It always helps with the future chapters!_

**Chapter 4: Did he really mean it?**

Three silhouettes watched on from the window in the Pokemon Centre as the trio of Ash, Iris and Cilan were just about to leave.

"Hmm, targets are moving into position. Prepare to strike." said a low voice

"Wait until they've let out all of their Pokemon before we begin." replied a female voice

"Should be any minute now..." another voice said

Meanwhile...

It was the morning that Ash could finally be discharged from hospital following a bad case of heatstroke while training for the upcoming Unova league. Iris was very relieved to see Ash back on his feet again, and was looking forward to watching him prepare for the big tournament coming up. It was another hot day, however thanks to Iris everyone had enough suncream for protection this time...

Ash as per usual threw caution to the wind and immediately ignored Nurse Joy's advice to "take it easy" and let out all of his Pokemon ahead of another day of training.

"Ash... Be careful!" groaned Iris

"I'm fine! No need to worry!" replied Ash while winking. The fact he used a phrase from the girl he used to travel with, Dawn, infuriated Iris. It was the ultimate piss-take. "Maybe he doesn't like me, but to rub it in about Dawn from all that time ago is horrible!" she thought to herself, with a hint of jealousy. Maybe she was overreacting, but the thought of Dawn was now sickening Iris. She didn't want **any** girl getting in the way of her and Ash, not right now anyway.

Iris continued to sulk while Ash proceeded with his training. Cilan volunteered to help him out while Iris sat there and talked to Axew for a bit.

"You don't seriously think he likes Dawn do you?" she asked

"You asked if he's ever thought about love ages ago, what do you think?" Axew replied sharply

"I suppose I'm just overreacting, I envy her so much though... Ash has never looked that pleased to see _me _before..."

"That's because you're basically together all the time! I suppose you can say it takes a lot to separate you two"

"Yeah but-" Iris' reply was caught short as a gust of wind kicked up a small sandstorm where the trio were located. Ash looked up to see the sight of a large helicopter lowering itself closer to the ground.

"Yamask, use smog" a low but familiar voice commanded, and within seconds the entire area was dark. Visibility was incredibly poor as panic descended upon the trio.

"Is everyone okay? What's going on?!" shouted Cilan. Then, up in the sky, the smog slowly began to fade, three dark figures stood there.

"What a question, twerpish indeed!"  
"We'll answer these questions when we feel the need!"  
"Bringing the blinding white light of evil into the future!"

"Thrusting the hammer of justice onto the black darkness of the universe!"

"Carving our names in the rock of eternity!"

"The fiery destroyer, Jessie!"

"And with thunderous emotion, I am James!"

"Wisest of the wise, Meowth!

"And now gather, under the name of Team Rocket!"

The darkness gave up its secrets, and revealed the familiar faces of Jessie, James and Meowth of Team Rocket up in a huge helicopter. Back to their serious ways, and this time they meant business. A scream was heard as the smog cleared on ground level. Ash could recognise that voice from anywhere though, it was the familiar voice of Iris, and while vision was impaired, she had fallen into Team Rocket's clutches.

"So Iris, tell me, I hear you have a rather powerful Dragonite on you?" Jessie questioned, patronizingly.

"You're not getting any of my Pokemon!" Iris angrily replied

"Well then, we're just going to have to take you away aren't we?" James stared at Iris while smirking

"And torture you until you hand it over!" Meowth added. Iris' heart skipped a beat, fear struck her like lightning. Ash's eyes were now lit with rage.

"You're not going anywhere!" he shouted at the top of his voice.

"Pipe down, twerp. Iris is coming with us until she hands Dragonite over, and there's nothing you can do to stop us!"

Inside a small cage was Iris, sobbing. She was scared. Scared for her life. She didn't know what Team Rocket were prepared to do to her, and she didn't know how to escape. She was about to lose her Pokemon, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"NO. You're not going anywhere!" Ash wasn't going to be defeated, as determined as ever, he sprinted at full speed towards the helicopter which began to take off. The wind was pushing him back but there was no way he would give in. The doors were just about to shut tight before Ash with everything he had made a leap of faith in an attempt to save Iris. "I'm not letting you down Iris... I'm not the 'kid' you think I am..." He thought to himself, this was his big moment. The helicopter was now in the air, and Ash just about laid fingertips on but the doors shut on him tight. He was hanging from death, and the doors were trapping his fingers in, pushing tighter by every second that went by. He let out a huge cry in pain, he felt as if his fingers were about to be crushed into a thousand pieces. With every fibre of his being in him, he pulled himself up, somehow finding the strength out of nowhere. Cilan stood there and watched in awe as Ash risked his life to save Iris. Once he had pulled himself up, he had a platform to stand on, and immediately slid open the door. He was in. Iris had her head in her hands while crying but gasped in disbelief as Ash somehow managed to get in. It wasn't to last though, Meowth came bursting onto the scene.

"Sorry to ruin your romantic reunion, but even a miracle isn't going to help you this time. Feel my fury swipes!" Meowth charged at Ash, who had nothing in his hands to defend himself, his Pokemon were all on ground level. He had to endure the hit. Meowth's claws dug deep through his skin- yet more pain for Ash to try and bear. Iris covered her eyes, she couldn't watch Ash get hurt like that. Ash was now wobbling on the edge of the helicopter with blood dripping off him, inches from inevitable death.

"You've been the shit up my ass for too long, so long Ash Ketchum!" Meowth let out the most gentle poke, enough to send Ash off the helicopter, and then crashing towards the ground. Peeking through the gaps of her fingers, Iris' heart sank, was that it? Was he really falling to his death?

A cry was heard from the distance-

"Snivy, Unfezant- GO!" the call was from Cilan, and soon the duo soared the skies to Ash's rescue with Unfezant carrying Snivy on his back.

"Snivy, use Vine Whip!" vines quickly sprouted from Snivy's back and grabbed hold of Ash to stop his fall. Unfezant soared back up to the helicopter and dropped off Ash. Iris was now shaking in fear, but the sight of Ash again excited her- hope wasn't lost yet.

"Unfezant use gust!" Ash commanded. The gust blew Meowth back into the control room, and gave Ash mere seconds to try and break Iris free. He rattled at the cage, punching and kicking, anything that would get it open. He eventually managed to bend the bars wide enough to make a small hole, albeit definitely not big enough to get Iris out of. However, she soon came up with a plan. She turned around-

"Ash quick, in my pocket is Dragonite's PokeBall, finish them off and get me out of here, please!" Ash reached through and unleashed the powerful dragon. Jessie, James and Meowth came charging into the room, the sight of Dragonite wiped the confident and intimidating expression off their faces. Before Ash could command any moves, Dragonite immediately went on a rampage, unleashing its full power on the helicopter. He blasted the cage open, freeing Iris before taking out the engine. Iris jumped out of the cage, and straight into Ash's arms. Suddenly they were hugging each other. They were now closer than they've ever been before. Ash started to blush slightly, but Dragonite came and grabbed them both before Iris could saviour the moment while the helicopter was set for a crash landing.

"Looks like we're going to have to retreat, quick get to the escape-pod!" shouted Jessie, as the Team Rocket trio dashed for a quick escape. They had gotten away unscathed, but what mattered right now to Ash and Iris was getting _themselves_ away unscathed. Dragonite gently took them back down to the ground while the helicopter crashed in the distance, letting out a huge explosion. Iris was still in shock over the whole situation, so she hung on to Ash for a little bit longer, she didn't want to leave him. She was so grateful for how he just tried to save her life...

"Thanks for helping me out back there Cilan!" said Ash.

"Well I had to do something! Good to see you're both okay!" replied Cilan happily.

The trio packed up their belongings and made the short journey to the next Pokemon Center to spend the night. Throughout the journey, Iris was a lot closer to Ash than normal this time, not that he seemed to mind, but this was instantly picked up by Cilan. As soon as they arrived, Cilan went to check in, which left Iris with a perfect opportunity...

"Ash... Thank you for saving me back there... I'll admit it, I was honestly scared, yet you still strived to try and save me... Thank you..." she blushed a little, while her heat began to rapidly beat. She was praying deep down that a similar scenario to her dream wouldn't occur. Ash looked happy:

"That's okay Iris! I would never want to lose _you_ now would I?" Ash replied.

Those words were enough to knock her straight off her feet. She gasped, and got extremely embarrassed. She didn't have a clue what to do, but just stood there, shaking and smiling.

She was quiet for the rest of the evening, once again alone in her thoughts. She was so confused. As she lied there in the bed, gazing at the night stars, one thing captivated her, one sentence could mean so much, or could just be a simply nice way to reply. Exactly what he meant, she didn't quite know. Ash was all over her mind for the entire night-

"Did he really mean it?"

Not all questions go on unanswered.


	5. Getting serious

_Author notes: In these next few chapters we'll be following Ash's Unova league challenge, so as per usual, let me know what you think, and write a review!_

**Chapter 5: Getting serious**

The waiting was finally over and the day had come. A warm summer day signalled the start of the Unova league. Ash was up at the crack of dawn, more excited than ever. The time was 6am, still early in the morning but Ash was already fully dressed before bursting into Iris' room to wake her up. He tip-toed in... There she was, she actually looks quite cute when she sleeps Ash thought to himself. He slowly got closer to her, without her waking up, then seized the opportunity and jumped on her. He turned her over and started ruthlessly tickling her. She then shot wide awake to find Ash all over her, for a split-second she thought she was still dreaming, but she was still half asleep and didn't have a clue what to do.

"Wake up! Today's the big day!" Ash shouted, although much to his confusion Iris didn't seem to mind being tickled. Although she was basically still asleep though. Ash wouldn't stop though, so Iris started rolling around the bed trying to shake him off, she was grinning- secretly she was enjoying it. Eventually though she ran out of bed to roll around on, and just as both of them were laughing, they came crashing down onto the floor. They hit the floor with a huge thud, enough to fully wake up Iris up, enough to even fully wake Cilan up in the other room. He dragged himself into Iris' room to see what all the hassle was about-

"You two are up awfully early, I hope I'm not interrupting anything!"

The two looked at each other. They had just spent the last 5 minutes on a bed tickling each other and now they're both of the floor. To empathize with Cilan, it did look pretty suspicious. They both blushed, Iris quickly panicked.

"It's really not what it looks like! It's all Ash, he's just excited for the Unova league to start..."

"Yeah, Cilan! Can we go now? I'm ready already! C'mon let's go!"

"But Ash, sign-ups don't open until 7, we've got almost an hour before we can register!"

Ash wasn't having any of Cilan's drawbacks though

"C'mon, what else are we going to do?!" He ran towards the door, it looked as if he was going to get his way.

"Well if you're really that desperate..." Iris agreed with Ash and immediately went to the door with him, which left Cilan with no other choice.

The trio finally set off to the destination of the Unova league. Even though it was still early in the morning, it seemed Ash wasn't the only one itching to get there so early. Right before him, stood about a hundred trainers waiting for the doors to open to get themselves registered. The sheer amount of people made Ash realise just how big the tournament was. Suddenly, the crowd went quiet for a moment, and a voice rang out on the tannoy that every trainer wanted to hear:

"Due to the high demand from trainers we will be opening our doors for registration in 5 minutes!" A huge roar was let out by the army of trainers. Amongst the noise, there was silence from the familiar figure of Trip standing there looking unimpressed as normal. Ash rushed over to say hello to him.

"Hey Trip did ya hear that? They're opening the doors early for us!"

"I'm not fucking deaf. They had no other choice when there's an army of impatient twats trying to sign up. This league will be easier than I thought."

"How can you be so sure? I've been training harder than ever, I've been in this situation before, so I know how to prepare for it by now!"

"Evidently not, you've tried four times before, and failed all of them. To put that into a context for someone basic like you, you didn't win the second time, the third time, or even the fourth time! Yet you still somehow find losers who support you on your failed journey..."

Iris further back was lit up in rage by this statement. Immediately rushing over to Ash's defence.

"Hey! Ash may have never won a tournament, but at least he's shown progress from his previous attempts! How do you know you won't end up like Ash in his first tournament- you're still a rookie aren't you?" Iris aggressively shouted back

"Maybe so, but I'm not stupid like Ash. The fact I have Serperior, a fully evolved _and _powerful Pokemon and Ash just has a basic Snivy says it all really. You can't talk either, look how shit your Axew is."

Ash soon stepped in:

"Iris is on a different route to the both of us!" Trip was successful in winding Ash and Iris, who were both really angry right now.

"Look at you two, defending each other. It's quite cute really."

Now was a good time for Cilan to step in...

"Trip, go and sign on, we'll sort ourselves out."

Trip smirked and walked away.

"Let your Pokemon do the talking on the battle field, Ash- he's only trying to wind you up so you eventually do something stupid."

"You're right, let's go and sign-on..."

The trio walked through to reception where Ash had his trainer ID scanned and his badges proofed. The receptionist quickly noticed Ash had history with previous leagues.

"Wow, Ash Ketchum. Good luck, maybe this year will be your year!" said the receptionist.

They then walked through to the main lobby where Cilan made something to eat while the registration process was being completed.

Time passed, and eventually the 10am cut off time was reached. The voice on the tannoy rung out again.

"Attention trainers, would everyone please pay attention to the monitors for the round 1 fixtures!" Ash's eyes were fixed on the screen. It felt like a million names had flashed up before his was there. But finally, after all the anticipation...

"Ash Ketchum...

Versus...

Nate!"

A boy who Ash could only assume that was Nate himself stared at him from the other end of the room, he nodded with a confident smile then walked off without saying a word. Trip was matched with a trainer called Brendan, so there was to be no rival battle... Yet.

Ash's battle was scheduled for 10:30am, which gave him half hour to prepare.

"Hey Ash, why don't you go and watch the other battles to see what the opposition is like?" suggested Cilan. Ash nodded as they went and took a seat in the stadium. The place was huge, the 70,000 seater stadium erupted as champion Alder came on stage to commence the opening of the tournament before the first two trainers went on stage to commence the opening battle. The sheer strength of the trainers in the first battle was already quite intimidating. Ash soon realised what he was up against. Before he knew it the battle was up and it was his turn soon. The interval gave Iris the chance to give Ash a quick pep talk before his battle.

She got him in a quiet place away from all the hassle.

"This is it, go out there and give it your all! I know you can do it, I'll be supporting you out there!" Without a moment of hesitation she leaned in and hugged Ash.

"Thanks Iris" he whispered, before letting go and walking out to the tunnel for his entrance. He turned around and winked at Iris before walking out. He now realised the amount of support he had behind him. This was it. The big moment had come.

"Ladies and gentlemen the time has come for our next battle... Please welcome onto the stage, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"

The crowd roared upon his entrance, he waved to Iris and Cilan in the stands before taking his position. Then the attention turned to his opponent.

"And now give a warm welcome to his challenger, Nate from Aspertia City!"

The crowd let out a huge roar, louder than Ash's. He had home support to his advantage, with the majority of the stadium right behind him.

The referee gave the trainers a quick reminder of the rules before the game.

"Okay, it will be a 2 on 2 battle as this is an early round with the winner being declared after all 2 of the other trainer's Pokemon are unable to continue."

The announcer gave the countdown, and the battle was underway.

"Unfezant, I choose you!"

"Go, Scolipede!"

So there was the 1st battle, Ash's Unfezant against Nate's Scolipede.

"Unfezant, start off with Quick Attack!"

"Dodge it and use Steamroller!"

Ash's Unfezant was too quick though, his pace was obviously something that was worked on in training. An early hit was landed, and Unfezant had made a good start.

"Use Toxic!"

Unfezant was now poisoned, and Ash had to find a way of keeping Unfezant's attacks useful.

"Now use Agility!" Nate was planning something. Their speed was now even.

"Unfezant, charge at Scolipede."

"You too, charge at Unfezant and use Double-Edge!" Nate was going in for the big hit.

"Unfezant get as close as you can and fly up in the air!" Just before the two collided, Unfezant soared up the skies, leaving Scolipede to charge into nothing. Its momentum kept it going until it came crashing into a wall, inflicting massive damage on itself. Leaving Ash with the big chance.

"Use Aerial Ace, quick!"

Unfezant came powering down and landed a huge hit on the helpless Scolipede. The impact rendered it down and out.

"Scolipede is unable to battle- Unfezant is the winner!"

Ash was halfway there, now Nate had it all to do.

"Are you okay still Unfezant?"

He didn't look perfect and was still looking a bit edgy from the poison, but was eager to continue.

"Okay Emboar, your turn!"

This would be a very tough one, Emboar versus an already poisoned Unfezant. But Ash was eager to wrap it up.

"Unfezant, fly into the sky!"

Nate remained still, awaiting Ash's next move. Ash once again tried the Fly + Aerial ace combo, however Nate this time countered it.

"Catch it!"

Emboar fought off the attack and held tight on Unfezant with both hands. Ash gasped it disbelief, there was no escaping now.

"Flamethrower!"

Emboar let out a huge beam of fire that completely incinerated Unfezant, and left it completely KO'd.

"Unfezant is unable to battle, Emboar wins!"

Iris, who was watching in the stands was now very worried.

"It's down to 1 v 1, he better choose Oshawott, he can't screw this up now, not in the 1st round!"

"Snivy I choose you!"

Iris facepalmed herself so hard she gave herself a headache.

"YOU IDIOT!" screamed Iris from the stands.

"Don't worry... I'm going to make the most of Snivy's speed in this case..." Ash thought to himself.

"Emboar, Flamethrower again!"

"Quick, use Protect!"

The powerful Flamethrower inflicted no damage.

"Now Double Team!"

"Use Smog!"

Emboar made sure that Smog reached out to all of Snivy's clones. But almost nothing happened. The clones disappeared before Emboar was unexpectedly hit with Snivy's Attract. Emboar was at Snivy's mercy now. Snivy quickly then followed up with Leer as Ash could now unfold his plans.

"Use Leaf Storm!" Ash had spent ages perfecting this move in training, now it was put into action. It worked. Emboar had felt massive damage but wasn't going down easily.

"Flamethrower, one more time!"

"Protect again!"

Emboar was now suffering from fatigue, and was immobilized by love. Ash had him right where he wanted him.

"Finish it with Giga Drain!"

Right before Nate stood Emboar having its health drained. There was nothing he could do, Emboar was down, and out. Nate had been outclassed, outsmarted and outbattled by Ash. The battle was over, Ash was through to the 2nd round and was one of 64 trainers still in the running.

"Emboar is unable to battle, Snivy is the winner which means the victory goes to Ash from Pallet Town!"

Disappointment rung around the stadium for the home favourite, but the crowd applauded Ash for putting on such a good battle. Iris sat there in amazement.

"I can't believe he managed to pull that off... Wow, he never ceases to amaze me..."

"Such a wonderful mix of power and strategy there from Ash, despite type disadvantage he pulled off an amazing first round victory." added Cilan

Ash and Nate shook hands before Nate nodded and walked off without a word, Ash didn't see him for the rest of the day.

The battle was over though and Ash was over the moon about getting off to a good start. Other than losing Unfezant, he felt it went incredibly well. He saw Iris and Cilan waiting back in the lobby, and ran to greet them. Upon seeing Ash, Iris gave him a huge slap.

"Ow, what was that for?!"

"Don't you ever do that again! You had me worrying sick!"

Trip then arrived:

"You idiot. You know how lucky you got there? You're facing an extremely powerful Emboar so you bring out Snivy which has a huge type disadvantage?! How basic."

"Well he won and that's the main thing!" Iris defended Ash again

"Be quiet dragon-girl, I've got a battle to win. Let me show you how it's done."

"Prick..." Iris mumbled

The trio went to watch Trip's battle and much to their annoyance, Trip absolutely blitzed his opponent while inflicting no damage at all. It was complete domination.

The day had been a long one, but the battle was finally done. Day 1 of the Unova league was over and all the round 1 fixtures had been completed. The fixture list for round 2 was now up on all of the monitors. In bright letters, his name was there, against a familiar friend.

"Ash V Virgil"

There he was.

"Well look at that! Hello again, I'll be seeing you tomorrow!"

_Well that was the start of the Unova league, leave any suggestions by writing a review!_


	6. Turning up the pressue

_Author Notes: Just a quick one from me, would just like to thank everyone who read the last chapter over the weekend, for one day I got over 700 views on this story! That's a personal record for me, so thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story so far, I really appreciate it!_

**Chapter 6: Turning up the pressure**

Ash looked around, and there was the face of Virgil. It was not too long ago they first met, and now they were about to face each other in the Unova league. Ash knew friendships had to go out of the window. It may only be the 2nd round, but the battles will only get harder.

It was to be a sleepless night for Ash, who was going over what Pokemon to use tomorrow. Round 2 would featur battles, so Ash needed to pick the most suitable 3 to face up to Virgil's variety of eveelutions. Ash would have to combat the prospect of fighting against a normal, water, electric, fire, physic, dark, grass or ice type in tomorrow's tie. There was so much to think about and he needed sleep... One thing confused him though. After beating Nate, he felt slightly disappointed to immediately get a slap from Iris.

"I've just won my first battle in the Unova league and yet I get slapped for taking a risk..." He thought to himself...

"Oh well, another chance to impress tomorrow..." He said to himself before he fell asleep, truth be told, he didn't quite know what he was _actually _saying...

The morning came. But Ash was nowhere to be seen. Cilan rung him but Ash wouldn't pick up. Iris was becoming increasingly worried, rushing around the room trying to find Ash. It's not as if he was small enough to be hidden under a pillow, yet she still endeavoured to look for him...

"Wait Iris! I've found a note!"

"Let me see!" shouted Iris as she came charging towards Cilan. She grabbed it off him to read:

"I didn't want to wake you up early like last time! I'll be in the lobby, see ya there!

Ash :)"

"That's it Cilan, we're going!"

"Might as well, I hope we don't miss his battle!"

"Well _I'm _not missing anything!" she shot off out of the door, sprinting towards the huge building that the tournament was being held in. Cilan was less eager to put the sweat into running there, and opted to stroll through the route there.

Meanwhile in the lobby...

"Virgil's gonna kick your ass."

"Why are you already counting me out?!"

"I just know it, you can't go around taking risks like that, they don't always work you know. Basic stuff."

"Yeah and what if you don't win your battle..."

"Highly unlikely I'll lose after yesterday's dominant display..."

"I will actually piss myself if you do lose."

"I wouldn't be so surprised if you were to lose."

"Shut up!"

"Oh look, it's your girlfriend." There in the distance was Iris charging at full pelt, just in time to interrupt Ash and Trip's friendly morning chat.

"She's not my girlfriend..." Ash start to clench his fists

"Wait, WHAT? What's going on?" Iris started to panic, she was clearly bemused.

"Hahaha, you two are so easy to wind up- I've got my battle now, so feel free to watch me win. I'll leave you two to your love affair."

Both were fuelled with anger.

"She is NOT my girlfriend!" Ash shouted, causing a huge scene. Iris stood there behind him as everyone turned around and looked. There was no hiding the fact she looked a little disappointed.

"I wish I was..." she thought to herself...

It wasn't long before Cilan arrived and the trio went and took their seats to watch Trip's latest clash. They watched on to find that Trip wasn't showing the same domination he did in his previous battle. The female trainer he was facing actually looked like she was having the upper hand. Trip fought on, despite having one of his Pokemon defeated, he quickly broke out Serperior and began to take control. It wasn't long before Trip turned it around to win 3-1.

The announcer did his thing:

"Samurott is unable to battle, which means the victory goes to Trip from Nuvema Town- Hilda is eliminated!" The crowd let out a huge roar, they were beginning to take to Trip, which only annoyed Ash and Iris even more. Cilan, who was sitting on the fence for the entire tournament so far, found all of the arguing quite funny, although with Ash's battle coming up, he didn't want Ash's mind wondering off to other matters.

5 minutes before the start of Ash's battle, Cilan appeared to give Ash a bit of motivation:

"Listen Ash, you can't let what Trip is saying get to you. He wants to wind you up, that way, you'll inevitably lose. It's like when you put a balloon in an oven- it eventually explodes." Yes after all the time that Cilan had spent travelling he appeared to finally run out of any decent food analogies.

"Don't worry Cilan, I won't let any of this put me down!" Ash replied confidently

"Although you two do look pretty cute together..." Cilan teased

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"Ash was now angry.

So Cilan slapped him.

"Why is everyone slapping me?!"

"Because it only took me 8 words to wind you up! Focus Ash. You're in the spotlight now, the battle's about to begin."

It was time.

"Ladies and gentlemen... It is time for our next round 2 battle... Please welcome a member of the Pokemon Rescue Squad- Virgil!

And now for his opponent, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"

It seemed the crowd were growing on Ash for his exciting battling style, but still not as great of a reception as Trip was getting...

"I won't go easy on you Ash, years of discipline and hard-work are all going into this battle!"

"Okay! GO, Krookodile!"

Now it was the big moment, what Pokemon would Virgil use.

"Let's go, Vaporeon!"

"Shit. He's got me already."

The battle begun and Krookodile started off with Dig. He burrowed into the ground but Virgil didn't flinch, nor with Vaporeon. They knew how to counter and Ash was the one who had to prepare himself now. Vaporeon didn't move a muscle until Krookodile came smashing up to land a hit but somehow Vaporeon dodged it with lightning reactions. With Krookodile making a landing Vaporeon unleashed a fearsome Hydro Pump which went onto land a direct hit straight onto Krookodile. The sheer power of the attack sent Krookodile flying, eventually upon landing it was knocked clean out. A 1-Hit-KO in an instant. Ash left shell-shocked. The entire stadium gasped in disbelief, it was 1-0 to Virgil already. The sound of Trip laughing was heard faintly in the background, but it was loud enough to fire up Ash, the sound kept lapping around his mind and it wouldn't leave. Ash dreaded to think what Trip would be saying if he lost the next two battles as easily as the first. Not today was he going to be embarrassed.

"Pikachu, let's go!"

Now Ash had the advantage.

Vaporeon once again let out another powerful Hydro Pump, Pikachu was there to counter it, his signature move, Thunderbolt, made its first appearance on the Unova league stage. As it had done for so many battles, the power and energy that Pikachu put into the move completely obliterated the power of the Hydro Pump and made its way through to a static and oblivious Vaporeon. A direct hit! And would you believe it- another 1-Hit-KO! 1-1! Another gasp of disbelief from the crowd, the battle was definitely on now!

"Okay Leafeon, you're up!"

A grass type. Things were slightly more even now, but Pikachu would have to work hard to break down Leafeon.

Leafeon started the next phase with a sand-attack, blocking the vision of Pikachu. Following that came the use of Razor Leaf which Pikachu quickly counter with Volt Tackle. Its sheer strength was soon apparent to the crowd's amazement with Razor Leaf inflicting no damage at all and Pikachu breaking through. It wasn't enough though as Leafeon easily dodged it. Leafeon then started charging up to use Solarbeam, this was Pikachu's chance to land damage. It charged forward and used Quick Attack which disrupted Leafeon when it was charging before the huge Solarbeam was unleashed. Pikachu countered with Thunderbolt and two huge beams were soon colliding against each other. Both weren't holding back, and eventually the two attacks faded out on a stalemate before Leafeon tried Leaf Blade with Pikachu flying in with Iron Tail, both were flying in with great momentum but Pikachu dealt the most damage knocking Leafeon off its balance, an opening had appeared and Pikachu dealt a huge blow by striking Thunder upon the helpless Leafeon. It wasn't over yet though, as Leafeon could unleash its most powerful move, only to be used in the most necessary circumstances. Getting back up on all fours it used Last Resort, Pikachu took a heavy blow and now both Pokemon were low on health. Leafeon was starting to go down with fatigue, but Pikachu sheer determination kept him going. It was a reflection of Ash at the present time, fired up about what Trip was saying, he wasn't letting this one slip. A final smash with Iron Tail and Leafeon was finished, it was the typical Pikachu battle. Dogged determination and strength won it, Ash had turned it around, 2-1 with Virgil's final Pokemon still to come.

"Pikachu come back, take a good rest. Now-" Without a moment to take out his PokeBall, Oshawott jumped out in anticipation. He had been waiting for this moment for ages, and now it was his time to shine.

"We've been in this situation before, now it's your turn, Jolteon!"

The confident and proud look on Oshawott's face was quickly rubbed off. He was at a huge disadvantage, and would have to overcome a huge barrier to achieve a victory this time around. The battle began. A Thunderbolt from Jolteon was quickly countered by Oshawott's Razor Shell but Jolteon was too powerful as Oshawott was knocked off-balance. Jolteon followed up with Quick Attack and had gained the upper hand in the early stages of the battle. Jolteon soon started to take control with a series of Thunderbolts and Quick Attacks. It was wave after wave of attacks, and eventually they had a huge impact, Oshawott was now paralysed. It stood there hopeless, while Jolteon only inflicted more damage on him. Oshawott only thought to himself that he had seen it all before. Constant damage from attacks, the feeling of losing was something he had felt too often. If he's going to change that, then everything is required for his big moment. This was it. Oshawott had a trick up his sleeve. He slowly got back up and with everything he had was able to use Double-Team and within seconds there were now several Oshawotts surrounding Jolteon. He then followed up with Dig with all of them burrowing into the ground. There they could fade leaving the real Oshawott underground with space to move. Jolteon seemed confused and had no clue which one was the real one and where it would pop up. There was no time to react as Oshawott sprung back into the air and landed a direct hit on the static Jolteon, to complete the combo Oshawott finished with Hydro Pump, and destroyed Jolteon. Three moves and bang, Jolteon was down. Struggling with fatigue it was just too much. Jolteon couldn't take it, it got back up for mere seconds before crashing back to the ground. Oshawott had done it. Against all the odds, he rose- victorious. Ash was the winner. The crowd got up for a standing-ovation, it was overwhelming. Everyone on their feet, except for Trip who walked out with just a hint of jealousy. Cilan was in awe while Iris was jumping up and down with joy, it was a real moment to remember for Ash. How did he manage pull that off, no one will quite know, you could even tell in the announcer's voice how amazed he was after that battle.

"Jolteon is unable to battle, Oshawott's the winner, and victory goes to Ash from Pallet Town!" The biggest roar from the crowd recorded in the tournament so far was heard, he was through to the final 32. Virgil was extremely gracious in defeat.

"Ash, that was some battle. Remember you can always come visit me again if you want another battle! I'll be waiting." They shook hands and both smiled before walking off. Ash saw Iris and Cilan waiting in the lobby He couldn't resist, he sprinted down towards them. He came in and hugged Cilan and then gave Iris a huge hug. She was ecstatic. No slap this time, much to Ash's relief.

Once again, Trip walked in, this time a little more impressed than before, but Trip being Trip, it was never a friendly encounter.

"You see I told you that you two were together."

Ash and Iris suddenly broke apart and started to blush.

"How many times?! We're not going out!" Ash angrily replied

"You hear that? The truth hurts, doesn't it Iris."

She looked away, he was right though in a way.

"You just stick to your tournament and I'll stick to mine, your battle wasn't exactly perfect so don't get cocky." Ash defended himself

Trip laughed and walked away, when all of a sudden-

"And leave Iris alone..."

His laugh turned to a smirk.

The mind games were getting intense... Whoever cracks first will ultimately fail... The tournament continues. 32 Trainers remain...

"Hey Ash, I've just found your next opponent here, is this the girl you were talking about once before?" Cilan asked

Iris' eyes suddenly lit with rage.


	7. Am I being replaced?

**Chapter 7: Am I being replaced?**

"Hey Ash, long time no see!" There she walked in, an old friend.

"Lyra! I haven't seen you in ages!" They hugged, they were clearly pleased to see each other. Iris could only stand there and watch, she felt as if her heart had been ripped out and stamped on. Cilan as usual came in with his normal introduction and chatted along while Iris stood there silent. She didn't move, but she felt very ill. It couldn't be could it? Seriously not after all this time... He couldn't have been holding it back could he? Please don't tell me that... Ash has a girlfriend?

They walked off down to the nearby café to catch up on recent events in their lives but Iris was nowhere to be seen. While they walked off, Iris kept standing in that same spot. She made no introduction, she didn't say a word. Ash was completely oblivious to Iris not following on, he just walked off. Iris' day was done as far as she was aware. She slowly walked back to the hotel room with her face down, alone in her thoughts, ignoring the world. In just seconds, it was like Ash had completely forgotten about her. She was nothing, it was clear he liked her, they hugged at first glance... "I suppose she's a strong trainer and that's probably what Ash likes... That renders me useless..." What if this was the only the start of it. She just saw how easy Ash can walk away from someone, what if Ash asks Lyra to go with _him _on a journey? Then they both can be together while Iris is just a mere shadow? Was it really the end for Iris? "I don't even know if I should just pack my things up and go..." she thought to herself. She sat down on the bed, and opened up her bag. Inside of it were loads of pictures from their previous adventures. All happy memories, everyone with a big smile on their face. Looking at the situation now, it was hard to face up to it. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't hold back the tears. The feeling of being alone hit hard, but the feeling of being replaced only made the tears flow more. Other than her Pokemon, there was now no one by her side. She couldn't leave though, not now. It might only be temporary, Ash being with Lyra this evening but Iris liked Ash too much to run away from him. She didn't want to leave him, not after all they had been through. It was difficult, but there would be another chance to cheer him on tomorrow. Tomorrow's a new day, but today had gone from being really good, to the stuff of nightmares. She just wanted someone with her right now. On a dark rainy night, she cried herself to sleep...

So what was happening in the café? Well Lyra like last time they met, was quick to ask if Iris was Ash's girlfriend. Ash laughed for a bit, and soon realised that Iris had not said a word. After turning around it was soon apparent she wasn't there at all. Ash felt very stupid. How could he not realise that she wasn't there? She's usually one of the first to get a sentence in. The three soon became worried, she could be anywhere. Doubts were erased when Trip walked over.

"Yeah nice going, I can't imagine your girlfriend is too happy with you."

"She's not my girlfriend! Where is she?!" Ash angrily replied. Cilan and Lyra chuckled briefly, Ash turned around and glared at them.

"I don't know, probably back to the hotel."

Ash stood up. "I'm sorry guys I'm gonna have to go early today, I'll see you tomorrow for our battle though, Lyra!"

He walked out with a heavy feeling that she might be upset. So he ran back to the hotel to see her. The rain was coming down quite hard, and by the time he got inside he was drenched. He didn't know what to expect when he came in. Would she be crying, or would she be packing her things up early. This was a sensitive situation that Ash didn't quite know how to deal with. She wasn't in the main room, which could mean bad news. He quietly tip-toed over to the bedroom and opened the door. To Ash's relief she wasn't packing her things, but she was asleep. Ash sat down by the bed, and saw where tears had been falling. He felt really bad, and it was all his fault. He started to stroke her hair, and in doing so thought to himself:

"Does she really like me..?" The feeling guilt suggested otherwise, she was probably really angry that he didn't notice her. He thought he'd see how she was in the morning, now probably wasn't the best time for conversation, especially seeing as he needed a lot of sleep for round 3 in the Unova league tomorrow. Eventually Cilan made his way back to the hotel and Lyra went her own way back. Everyone was now asleep at the end of an eventful day...

The morning had finally come, and to everyone's surprise, Iris was the first up. She seemed in a very happy mood too. She woke Ash and Cilan up quickly and within 5 minutes they were changed and on their way to the stadium.

"So Ash, do you think you can win today?" Cilan asked

"I honestly don't know what to expect, last time I saw Lyra she was still a rookie from Johto..."

Iris' smile was weakened by that name, she wasn't entirely happy it seemed. Ash remained curious over last night. He didn't quite know what to say, but she seemed in a good mood so Ash though he'd just go straight in.

"Hey Iris, where did you go last night?"

She laughed a bit- "Oh I was really tired and wanted to go to sleep quickly! You walked off too soon for me to tell you all, and plus I would have probably fallen asleep at the café!"

It was an answer that Ash wanted to hear, although he wasn't entirely convinced. She looked happy, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. She still looked tired, it worried Ash, Cilan didn't seem to notice.

Upon arriving in the lobby, the trio were confused to see Trip talking to Lyra. When they saw Ash though, they quickly stopped. Iris didn't have a clue what to do, and Cilan seemed suspicious. Ash walked over to say hello, only to find out that Trip had been telling Lyra all of Ash's weaknesses. There was no time for arguments though this time as Ash and Lyra were the first battle of the day. Before they both ran off to go to the stage, Iris made her move. She wasn't letting Ash run off this time. Ash turned around to see the face he was expecting to see earlier. She looked really down, and possibly close to crying.

"Please beat Lyra..."

Ash smiled and winked before he set off to the stage.

The atmosphere was electric for the first battle of the day. The announcer cleared his throat and let out his lines.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to day 3 of the Unova league! Our first battle of the day is here, so please give a warm welcome to Lyra from Johto!"

Iris sat there, and upon hearing her name and the crowd cheering she put her head down, she wanted Ash to beat Lyra so badly...

"And her opponent, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" The crowd roared, they were behind him, and so was Iris who was screaming Ash's name from the stands. Once again, it would b battle, it was time to see how much stronger Lyra had gotten...

"Ok Pignite- you're up first!"

"Go, Meganium!"

"Look at that, Ash has already got type advantage!" Iris cheered, she had a feeling Ash had this.

Meganium took the first move and surprised everyone by starting with Giga Impact, it came charging towards Pignite who braced himself, but the hit was incredibly strong. Pignite was well trained though, and survived the initial hit. Meganium now had to rest, so Pignite could land a direct hit now. Pignite used Flamethrower while Meganium stood there, helpless. The super-effective move made a direct hit and inflicted massive damage on the grass type. Two very strong moves in quick succession, Meganium could move now though. It then used Magical Leaf, an attack which doesn't miss, no matter how hard Pignite tried to run away from it. Meganium quickly followed up with Take Down but Pignite took the damage from the first attack and countered with Flame Charge. In this type match up, Meganium was always going to fare second best, and again it did, with Pignite yet again coming out on top. Megaium was close to being finished, so Pignite, now faster than before, came in with Flame Charge again, too quick for Meganium to think, and this time doing the job. Meganium was out.

Trip watched on from the stands-

"Wow she really is bad. That's her strongest Pokemon, the rest are nothing short of pathetic. Ash will breeze this."

Ash switched Pignite for Pikachu, in a move that proved to be very convenient. Lyra sent out her Marill, once again Ash had the advantage.

Marill started with Rollout in an attempt to counter Pikachu's electric attacks, but the yellow mouse was too quick and evaded the oncoming boulders coming his way. The boulders began to get more powerful as time went on but Pikachu was too quick and when he found half a yard of space he unleashed a powerful Thunderbolt which hit Marill hard. The amount of damage that Marill sustained surprised even Ash, Pikachu was all over Marill. Soon the boulders were getting dangerously big, so Pikachu countered with Quick Attack, eventually putting him in a position to fire another Thunderbolt- Marill was hit even harder this time. It started to wobble all over the place, before Pikachu finished it off with Volt Tackle. Marill was down, and out. It was almost too easy for Ash, two Pokemon down off Lyra and only one remained. Iris began to smile, this was exactly what she wanted to see.

Lyra had one Pokemon left, while Ash still had all three. Once again, Ash opted to switch Pokemon, bringing out Krookodile. It must've been Ash's day, everything seemed to just be going his way. His knew it when Lyra's last Pokemon came out, Girafarig. It was Psychic against Dark, and once again Ash had the advantage.

Girafarig nor Lyra looked particularly confident, it looked as if they were close to giving up. Ash was more fired up than ever, and he took the first move. Krookodile came charging in, at full speed, Girafarig copied and tried to use Psychic, which is where Lyra's naivety showed. It didn't have any effect on Krookodile at all, who kept charging while Girafarig was helpless. It then quickly lunged in and used Crunch, digging its long jaws through Girafarig. The attack was strong and now Girafarig was more vulnerable than ever. Krookodile then started running rings around Girafarig who didn't know what was going on, Krookodile came flying in with Crunch again and this time made it count. In just two turns, Girafarig was finished. Lyra looked down, she had been demolished. The crowd gasped in disbelief, except for Iris, who was cheering as loud as she could. It was over, a complete white-wash. Trip had seen it coming all along, she was still as rookie. They both went and shook hands before walking off, it was a very causal goodbye, which was a huge relief for Iris as it confirmed to her that there was nothing going on between them and that she was overreacting, she was over the moon and rushed down to see Ash. Ash was amazed by his victory, and was starting to believe in himself a bit more. He saw Iris waiting, and after everything that happened last night, he just wanted to hug her. They were both so happy, and Ash wanted to set things straight, while they were both in each other's arms, Ash whispered:

"I'm sorry..."

Later on in the day, Trip had once again won his battle and was through to the next round, Lyra wasn't seen again, possibly embarrassed from her performance today. After a long wait though, the fixtures were finally about to be announced. 16 trainers were left as the names rushed through, eventually, Ash's match-up was finally on screen:

"Ash versus...

Trip!"

At long last, the two rivals would finally face each other. Trip smirked, he looked very confident.

"We're finally against each other Ash, better pack your things early, the battle will be a short one, a bit like you against that pathetic excuse for a trainer today."

After today's performance, anything was possible for Ash, he wasn't going to put himself down, but he wasn't going to hype himself up either.

"We'll see, may the best trainer win!"

"Well that will be me then."

Avoiding any argument, Ash and co. walked off, after all of the mind games and trash talk, there would be one winner this time tomorrow. It would all come to an end, who will come out stronger? Ash finally faces Trip...


	8. Ash Vs Trip

_Author Notes: Hi everyone, sorry this chapter has taken so long to come, I've had a long and stressful week, plus I thought I'd release this closer to when Ash and Trip's actual battle in the anime took place. I live in the UK, where the anime is neglected quite a lot, which means I only get to see the latest episodes a day or two after they actually come out, so please when reviewing don't post any spoilers! Oh and I would like to apologise for the Dr. Seuss reference which you'll soon see, I couldn't resist the urge to put it in when the opportunity came up! This is going to be a very long chapter, just to warn you! Make sure to drop a review on what you think, thanks!_

**Chapter 8: Ash Vs Trip**

The seconds ticked by, edging ever closer to midnight. The trio of Ash, Iris and Cilan were in the hotel, it was the eve of Ash's battle with Trip. They were two of the 16 trainers that remained in the tournament, which for Ash meant that winning this would see him through to the quarter finals, then he could start dreaming. He had been thinking alone about the battle ahead for hours, and little did everyone know that he had a trick up his sleeve...

Iris was taking the battle just as seriously as Ash was, and she wanted him to get a good night's sleep. It was getting very late, and Ash had to be in top form if he was going to overcome Trip tomorrow. After exactly five minutes of nagging from Iris, she eventually persuaded Ash to go to bed.

Iris was struggling to sleep as she could only hear the sound of Ash tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep. She couldn't bare the thought of seeing how smug Trip would look if he beats Ash tomorrow. She trusted Ash to beat him though, she knew that somehow, he would manage to pull something out of the bag...

The morning finally came. Iris woke up to the sound of Ash getting dressed in the other room; he sounded pumped up, while Cilan was already in the kitchen making breakfast. While Iris was getting dressed, Ash came in to find Iris looking sceptical in front of the mirror. She was playing with her fringe, and was completely oblivious to Ash standing in the doorway. She kept moving it up and down to decide whether it was better longer or shorter; she bit her tongue and pulled out a pair of scissors before Ash stepped in. He don't know why he cared so much:

"No don't cut your fringe!" He paused for a moment and started to blush

Iris seemed quite embarrassed, had he been standing there the whole time?

He twiddled his fingers and looked down, there was no going back now-

"You look... really nice when it's longer..."

Iris seemed taken back, Ash was the last person in the world that she expected to comment on her appearance. She put the scissors down and smiled-

"Thank you Ash" she said tenderly, she couldn't believe it, Ash actually noticed her! The smallest of comments was enough to almost completely make her day. However for today to go perfect, Ash had to finish Trip off.

While they were walking towards the stadium, Iris had a huge grin on her face, she was so happy that Ash liked her hair, but events quickly took an interesting turn when Ash encountered his opponent for the day, Trip.

"Morning Trip, not long before we finally see who's best!"

"I hope you're prepared, I'm going to wipe the floor with you today. Seeing as this is going to be so one-sided, I thought I'd make things a little bit interesting if you're willing to play along here. Last night I was thinking that if I lose, you're the better trainer, you're more intelligent and wise than me etc. and I'll piss off, however if I win... then I get to take Iris with me to the Unova league post tournament party." Trip smirked. Iris went pale. Ash paused for a moment. "Do I really believe in myself? By accepting, am I sure that I will beat Trip? If I say no, then I don't think I'll win. What would be the point in competing if I don't think I can win?" He looked at Iris, she seemed tentative.

"Sure, if you want." He gave a confident reply, Trip smirked.

Trip eventually walked off to do his own preparation while Iris gave Ash a pep-talk, she wasn't going to let him lose this, not after making an outrageous bet like that.

"Ash you better beat Trip now, I don't want to be seen anywhere with him!"

Ash smiled.

"Not in a box?"

"Not with a fox!"

"Not in a boat?"

"Not with a goat!"

"Not here or there?"

"Not ANYWHERE" she slapped him. Ash's mind was definitely starting to dwindle off the main event.

"The reality of it is Iris is that if I don't think I'm going to win then there's no reason for me to compete, I wouldn't put you into a bet if I didn't think I was going to win it, I'm not stupid Iris, I wouldn't do that." He smiled at her, she started to blush a little bit.

"Well go out there and win it for me, I don't want to go though the consequences that you could put me through..."

He smiled, winked, then walked off. The stage was set, and the talking would soon stop. Ash would finally meet Trip on stage.

The anticipation was rising as the announcer cleared his throat.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the tie of the round, two fierce rivals, one hailing from our very own Unova, the other from the far away land of Kanto. He's already making headlines with his impressive and dominant displays, so please welcome onto the stage, Trip from Nuvema Town!" The home favourite was on stage, now for Ash's entrance.

"And now his opponent, who has been making headlines with his exciting battling style, you may have heard the name before, it's Ash from Pallet Town!

This looks set to be one of the battles of the whole tournament, so fasten your seat belts and get ready for a roller-coaster ride! We will be following the same format as the previous round, with this battle bein tie! Without further ado, let the battle commence!"

"Don't disappoint the crowd Ash, they don't just want to see me dominate you for the whole battle, let's go Serperior!"

"We'll see who's laughing by the end, Pikachu I choose you!"

The battle started. Ash was quick to show off Pikachu's power and agility by launching a Quick Attack towards the onlooking Serperior, but the snake's immense speed was soon noticeable as it dodged the attack easily. Pikachu then fired a Thunderbolt, again Serperior didn't move until the attack got closer, and again it easily dodged it. Trip finally made his move, Serperior let a powerful Leaf Blade attack upon Pikachu, and once again the snake won the speed race. It landed a direct hit and Pikachu received heavy damage. It had not been a good start for Ash who then called Pikachu back, much to the crowd's amazement. In the early stages of the battle, Ash had already opted to make a change. Was he doubting himself? Iris and Cilan weren't convinced, Trip smirked, it was all working in his favour. Ash let out Unfezant, now he was adding more pace to the battle. Serperior used Razor Leaf, sending hundreds of mini leaves spinning towards Unfezant's way, it soared up into the sky, avoiding Serperior's attack before coming down with Aerial Ace, Serperior repeatedly jumped side to side in an attempt to confuse Unfezant and make the attack miss, but Unfezant kept its focused and made the slightest of contact when Serperior attempted to steer clear of the attack. Serperior then began charging up power so it could use Solarbeam, Unfezant reacted and once again soared up into the sky, Serperior aimed up into the air as Unfezant came powering down and started using Brave Bird, it was carrying so much speed and momentum but the power Solarbeam was about to get in its way, Unfezant used it agility to spiral round the beam and some how avoid it, it was gaining more and more speed, producing more power, it had to hit hard otherwise Unfezant itself would take damage. Serperior couldn't hold out for much longer and eventually let go of the Solarbeam attack but Unfezant kept going, dazed by the fading beam Serperior was a sitting duck, where Unfezant could land its first direct hit and what a powerful hit it was! Unfezant shrugged off the recoil damage, while Serperior had taken quite a blow. Trip quickly noticed that Unfezant had matched Serperior for speed and after that attack, Serperior wasn't going to get any faster so it was time for a swift change. In another unexpected switch, it was Trip who called Serperior back and this time sent out his Tranquil. It was the battle of the birds, the crowd gasped, it was almost a straight fight. Ash had the slight advantage with his Unfezant being in its third evolutionary stage but Trip shouldn't be underestimated. Unfezant once again soared up into the sky but Tranquil soon chased it, it was a test of speed now, there was no finish line but the two birds were running neck and neck but Tranquil butted in and sent Unfezant spiralling through the air with a swift Quick Attack before following up on its stranded opponent with Aerial Ace. Suddenly, Unfezant began to fly back down to ground level, once again Tranquil followed it, Unfezant seized the opportunity and quickly changed directions, flying back towards the sky again, with no time to react Unfezant landed an Aerial Ace on Tranquil. Unfezant was now in the hot seat, and quickly used Gust to create space for itself. Tranquil wasn't going to let play go into its opponent's hands though and soon reacted by using Brave Bird, instinct kicked in for Unfezant, who wasn't going to be beaten by a smaller and weaker version of itself, as it quickly then replied with Brave Bird itself too. The two birds came storming towards each other, surrounded in a veil of blue energy, before contact, Tranquil quickly edged out of the way, Unfezant was trying too hard and kept on going, heading straight towards a wall, Tranquil saw its opportunity and used Brave Bird again, heading for its rival's rear, Unfezant came crashing into a wall before being struck by Tranquil at full power, the impact was too much, Unfezant was out of it, it was first blood to Trip.

Nerves were beginning to kick in now as Iris started to worry quite a bit, she couldn't sit still and her heart was pounding, was she watching Ash throw it all away?

Going out and using a Pokemon which would suffer a type disadvantage had worked in the past, but now wasn't the time for taking risks, Ash knew full well that he was on the most dangerous position in the league so far here, Pikachu was up again to level things up. The adrenaline was starting to surge around Ash's body, he had the advantage now, Pikachu had licked his wounds from the previous fight, and was up and ready to play.

Pikachu immediately let out a huge Thunderbolt in an attempt to catch Tranquil, but Tranquil avoided it. Pikachu was ruthless in his attacks and soon resorted to launching waves of Electro Balls one after the other, the agility of Tranquil was seriously being tested here, it couldn't last forever as its energy levels were starting to deteriorate, Pikachu was beginning to feel the fatigue of letting out constant attacks but it kept on, eventually one of them made that crucial hit, as Pikachu spotted up and used Thunder when the timing was finally right. Tranquil came dropping to the ground, but was far from being finished, it strived to quickly get back up, but struggled to do so, Ash had a chance now, Tranquil was paralysed. The constant pressure had to keep coming from Pikachu, who couldn't let Tranquil back in the air, Pikachu came running in with Volt Tackle, smashing Tranquil against the wall. Pikachu quickly tried to recover from the recoil damage as Tranquil slowly started to take to the skies, this was a now or never moment, Pikachu could end the battle but only if he manages to make full contact. He once again started charging towards Unfezant, leaped into the air and let loose a fearsome Iron Tail with all of his power, Tranquil ran out of time, it was over. Ash had levelled the tie now. That defeat still hadn't wiped the smirk off of Trip's face, who then sent out a giant of a Pokemon. If a battle was going to be won over power, then Trip had gone for the right Pokemon. Ash and Pikachu watched on as out of the PokeBall came Conkeldurr. It was now speed v power.

Conkeldurr made use of its advantages by quickly using Stone Edge, sharp stones hurled towards Pikachu who replied with Volt Tackle to avoid the stones. The stones were too fast and there were too many of them, Pikachu was starting to take damage but eventually landed a hit on Conkeldurr who had no chance of avoiding Pikachu's speed. Conkeldurr then used Earthquake, Pikachu had almost no chance of this move, yet used his speed once again to find a way of combating it, experience had taught him to get on top of the opponent in these situations, so Pikachu quickly dashed towards Conkeldurr and jumped on top of it before letting out Thunderbolt, Conkeldurr grabbed Pikachu and threw it across the field, once again it used Stone Edge, but Pikachu quickly jumped back onto his feet and combated the oncoming stones with a series of Iron Tails, rebounding them back into Conkeldurr's path, he kept going and while Conkeldurr was avoiding the stones from its own attack, Pikachu came in and hit with an Iron Tail once more. Conkeldurr whipped up another Earthquake but Pikachu once again had an answer for it, quickly jumping off the wall to fire an Electro Ball. Conkeldurr was starting to take damage, but Pikachu was quickly getting worn out. Conkeldurr changed its plans and used Rock Tomb, Pikachu didn't have anywhere to go and was soon trapped, Conkeldurr came hurling towards the rock tomb and destroyed every single rock with a mighty powerful Hammer Arm, Pikachu had sustained heavy damage. Iris couldn't bare to watch, if that was it for Pikachu, then Ash would have it all to do. First getting Conkeldurr out of the way and then somehow beating Serperior. Pikachu switched tactics, attack was starting to work, but one hit from Conkeldurr could prove to be the final blow. Pikachu parked his back against the wall, as Conkeldurr once again used Rock Tomb before hurling forward with Hammer Arm, Pikachu was able to dodge this time, and quickly struck with Thunder while Conkeldurr was off guard. It was working for Pikachu now, paralysis had kicked in on Conkeldurr. It was the lucky break that Ash needed. Sometimes in these big battles, if you can get that little bit of luck, you might just be able to pull off the unthinkable, and that's exactly what happened here. Trip gasped in disbelief, he couldn't believe it. Conkeldurr could now access its hidden ability- Guts. Now that it was paralysed, its attack would increase, meaning Pikachu had to get this over and done with properly. The battle was now on, the whole stadium was nervous, Pikachu fought on, once again pulling off Thunder on the static Conkeldurr. Pikachu came charging towards the target, it was a risky move, it could go very wrong, Pikachu quickly leaped into the air and used Iron Tail but Conkeldurr was able to counter with Hammer Arm, the two attacks cancelled each other out but Pikachu found the strength to hit with Iron Tail again, a direct hit, heavy damaged was done, now it was time for the finishing move. Pikachu sprinted across the battlefield and jumped off the wall, Conkeldurr stood there helpless, unable to attack from the paralysis and Pikachu leaped into the air, and with everything he had struck the most powerful Thunderbolt he could produce. The electricity shocked all the way through Conkeldurr, who came crashing to the ground with an almighty thud. Pikachu had done it, the battle had now swung in Ash's favour. But the most powerful Pokemon Trip owned was up now, it was a repeat of the first battle. Serperior V Pikachu. Pikachu had defeated two of Trip's Pokemon already, surely he couldn't do all three? Trip once again was wearing a confident expression on his face, he was calm and collected again, confident that Serperior could finish Pikachu easily. Pikachu himself was very tired, he had put everything into the last 2 battles, but had to keep pushing on the final hurdle. Sweat was beginning to drip down Ash's face. Iris and Cilan sat there on the edge of their seats with their hearts pounding against their stomachs. The crowd were going crazy as the battle was soon to be reaching its climax.

Pikachu again threw a Thunderbolt at Serperior who was simply too quick again, this time the snake quickly came charging towards Pikachu and completely destroyed it with Leaf Blade. It was a direct hit, it was just too powerful, Pikachu had fought hard for the whole battle, but this was asking a bit too much, it was inevitable that Pikachu would go down, but this was earlier than Ash anticipated, the battle was no longer in his favour. It was level again, this was it, one Pokemon each. The decider.

"This is it, Ash. I know your strategy though, it simple enough really. In that PokeBall that's in your hand is Pignite. You were never going to mess around with this, despite _you _being the one who is renowned for winning battles with type disadvantage. Well now it's my turn, I'm going to prove to you that grass can beat fire. This is my time to assert my strength."

"I was never going to mess around, however, in my hand isn't Pignite."

Ash started to smirk, this was his master plan- the trick he had up his sleeve from the morning. Iris was puzzled: "What could he be up to this time..."

"It's time to rely on an old friend...

GO! CHARIZARD!"

The whole stadium gasped, including Trip. This was Ash's secret weapon. Ash's eyes were lit up in flames, he was ready for the final battle. It was Charizard V Serperior.

Serperior charged at Charizard, preparing to land another Leaf Blade attack, but Charizard launched himself into the air and came swooping down to hit Serperior with Air Slash. Serperior smashed its tail on the ground and and used Leaf Tornado, whipping up a huge tornado of leaves coming straight into Charizard's direction. Charizard was soon caught up in the tornado and was then hit with a terrifying Leaf Storm. Serperior was going all out in attack. Charizard took a deep breath as he took extreme damage and let out his aggression with Fire Spin, the stadium soon lit up with fire caught up in the tornado, the leaves soon caught fire, Charizard was dictating at the centre of it all, creating a fire tornado, he flapped his wings and sent the tornado of fire speeding towards Serperior who had absolutely no chance, the attack was so powerful it inflicted incredible damage. Serperior was far from finished though, it quickly grabbed hold of Charizard using Wrap and now had the fiery dragon constricted within its tail using its immense strength. Serperior's grasp on Charizard was tightening by the minute as Serperior then used Leer, Trip was preparing a massive attack, this was his best shot at finishing the battle. Serperior's attack was now raised, the snake took in the sunlight and began charging. With Charizard still constricted, Serperior was preparing to fire Solarbeam at full power. Charizard prepared himself too, he took in another deep breath as Serperior unleashed its Solarbeam, Charizard replied with Flare Blitz, it was the ultimate battle of fire and grass, the two powerful attacks creating a huge explosion, smoke covered the stage as no one could tell what had happened. The smoke had cleared to find Charizard had escaped from the grip of Serperior, who was now beginning to look weak and tire. Charizard kept the evil stare in his eyes. Ash clenched his fists as this was the big moment. Charizard soared up into the sky and growled at the top of his voice, with everything he had in him he let used Flamethrower with everything he had, fire was sprinting towards Serperior's direction. There was no escaping, not from that attack, it was too powerful, this time there was no answer. The flames hurled against Serperior and took all of the energy out of it, slowly it started to wobble, it had lost its balance before it came crashing to the ground. The stadium went silent. It was over. Trip's Serperior had finally met its match, Ash had come out victorious. The mind games, the trash talk- it was all finally over. The crowd rose to their feet and applauded, they had just seen what genuinely a battle to remember. Trip looked around, before looking at Ash and smiling. The two walked up to each other, Ash had no idea what to expect.

"Look Ash, a trainer can play all of the mind games and say all of the most intimidating things he or she likes. But as proved today, and as I've found out just now, that your talking on the battlefield is what really matters... That was a genuinely fantastic battle, and I take no shame in losing... You were the better man."

"That was quite possibly the best battle I've been in, so here shake my hand, it's finally over."

The two shook hands and smiled at each other, before going their separate ways. The bitter rivalry, was now a rivalry where both trainers had gained respect for each other. It turned out that Trip was willing to beat Ash mentally as well as physically, which did mean he came across differently to what he actually is. It was finally over though, the score had been settled. The crowd applauded both trainers as they departed from the stage. Ash was buzzing, he was on such a high, Iris had sprinted down to the lobby to meet him, she was ecstatic, not only was she relieved, she was so happy to see Ash beat Trip, she didn't know the full story after the battle, but Ash wasn't getting any time to tell her. He came running towards her ready to hug her, but Iris came straight in and quickly gave Ash a huge kiss on the lips. She held onto him, while Ash was completely taken back by what she was doing, he didn't know what _he _was doing either though, he found himself kissing her too. It was a moment that Iris had only been dreaming of, for Ash he had never expected this in a million years. She looked into his eyes before hugging Ash again, she was so caught up in the moment she didn't know what she was doing, but she was definitely enjoying it. Cilan came charging in, he was ecstatic too, the trio were all jumping up and down with joy, before Trip came walking in. Iris looked angry at the sight of him, but Trip was very gracious.

"No hard feelings..."

He shook Iris' and Cilan's hands before walking off, he had made amends for everything that had happened earlier in the tournament.

During the evening Ash had stayed up for the night to watch the replay of his battle on TV, he lied in bed that night with a huge smile on his face.

"I'm into the quarter finals... Maybe, just maybe, this year will be my year! What about Iris though... I still don't quite know what happened earlier... That post tournament party, that sounds like an idea..."


	9. Confusion

_Author Notes: Right now I'm absolutely delighted with the reception of this story, and I can assure you that there are more Negaishipping moments to come! However Ash has a league to win... How far will he go? Let's find out..!_

**Chapter 9: Confusion **

Ever since that traumatic day when Ash collapsed with heat stroke, the nights have been heavy for Iris, tonight was no exception. She had for once looked at him in a different way, and appreciated him in a much different manner than before. She had never had a friend like this before, however he was more than a friend... Every night she would think about him, and then look at herself. Ash always had other things on his mind; even if he ever did think about romance, then he certainly wouldn't look at her... Yesterday though, she kissed him. You could argue it was from the excitement and drama of beating Trip, on the other hand was she physically demonstrating her true feelings? She sat up in bed and frowned. "He probably thinks I'm really weird now... I've probably ruined everything... Why did I do it?" she thought to herself. She was confused right now, the morning couldn't come soon enough. Maybe some things are better to be forgotten. "Ash is clueless. What's the point?"

Ash on the other hand, slept well that night. His dreams were always filled with weird and wonderful things. However as the Unova league progressed and his self-esteem grew, he soon dared to dream. That night he dreamed of finally becoming a league champion. Fireworks going off, the crowd chanting his name, Iris and Cilan waving from the stands, him on the podium, clenching his trophy while his Pokemon were leaping for joy. After the ceremony, he got a call from all his rivals, everyone who had mocked him in the past were now singing his praises, he was a Pokemon master, and a respected figure throughout the entire world. However, all dreams eventually fade and die. Once that dream was eventually over, another one started. This one was something Ash had never dreamed of before. Not once in his life had he dreamt of something like this ever, but yet it felt so real... Ash had just returned victorious from a battle, and after taking in the applause from the crowd he came into the lobby to find Iris suddenly sprinting towards him, Cilan was nowhere to be seen. He had no time to react, as Iris suddenly came in and kissed him passionately on the lips. He had never kissed anyone other than his mother before, and yet there was his best friend suddenly all over him. What was weirder was that he was enjoying it, and certainly wasn't holding back. His mind and soul were focused on that one girl at that particular moment, Iris. Ash's conscience while asleep starting to pay more attention. His dream continued, he later saw scenes of Iris and Iris alone. He was registering everything, her eyes, her smile... Then he started seeing scenes of just him and Iris together. It was so confusing... Yet, he somehow was enjoying it. What were these feelings? This was something completely different to Ash...

It was the day of the quarter finals, 8 trainers remained, and Ash was daring to dream. It was all laid out for him, the bright fireworks, the glitz and glamour of being one of the top trainers in the world... It wasn't over yet, but the final was getting ever closer...

Iris was behaving a bit different that morning, Ash had really started to notice, she wasn't her usual cheery self. He had spent almost a whole night dreaming about her, for once he was concerned as to why she was different. "Morning Iris! Did you sleep well?" Ash greeted her cheerfully, he was pleased to see her. She blushed slightly at the sight of Ash and started to laugh nervously. "Was alright..." for some reason she was avoiding eye-contact and being extremely blunt. Later on during breakfast there was a very long awkward silence. Even Cilan was struggling to make a conversation. Over the last few days for Ash he had gone through so many different emotions, and started to think and feel different things. If the Unova league had taught him anything, then he had to believe in himself more. Using his new found self-esteem, he broke the ice. "You can say if there's something wrong Iris..." Cilan raised an eyebrow, this was different for Ash. She looked up, where Ash and Cilan noticed how washed out she looked. She began to mutter "sorry about yesterday... After the battle..." There was no use pretending not to know, Ash knew full well what she was on about. Cilan less so, he wasn't there. She needed comforting at a time like this, Ash eased the mood. "Haha, don't worry. I was so happy, I didn't mind anything that could've happen. Apart from you slapping me of course! It's a good thing you were there, otherwise I would've been all over Cilan!" the trio laughed, remembering what an awesome moment that was. Iris began to smile again, she was thankful that Ash said that, although she couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed that Ash didn't say anything about liking it. She thought that maybe that was a bit unlikely, considering Cilan was at the table with them.

Soon it was time to make the short walk to the stadium where Ash would face his next opponent. The trio got there just in time for the fixtures to be announced. There would be only 4 battles for the quarter finals, so anyone that Ash would watch in the other 3 battles could go onto win it. The names flashed past, everyone looked so intimidatingly strong, then there was the mug shot of Ash that came up. He was on the verge of sneezing when the picture was originally taken, so he was pretty embarrassed to see such a picture among the 7 remaining trainers who all had aggressive, and serious expressions on their faces. There it read, in big bold letters: "ASH K Versus... LETO" The picture of a trainer Ash had never seen before had appeared on the screen. At the other end of the room stood what look liked to be him. There stood a tall and slim man dressed all in black, with no second name on screen. He had dark grey eyes and pale white skin with long black hair. He wore a long silver chain around his neck with dice cuff-links that complimented his suit. He had a huge flaring collar, with his top button undone and no tie at all. He looked like a smart but intimidating man. At this stage in the tournament, Ash could only expect a tough fight.

Later that day, all of the other quarter final battles were taking place. It soon became apparent to Ash that all of the Pokemon that were being used had all reached their final evolutionary forms. Ash knew that he only had Charizard and Unfezant on hand who had fully evolved. It wasn't long before his big battle though, and Cilan and Iris gave him the reassurance he needed.

"It doesn't matter what stage your Pokemon are at in their evolutionary cycle. What matters is that you go out and enjoy it. You're in the quarter finals among some of the best trainers in the region. You won't be at your best if you don't enjoy it." said Cilan, in a happy manner.

"You can do it, you've beaten Trip, and overcome the odds so many times! Plus if you lose, I won't be able to kiss you after will I?" Iris said while laughing, she had gotten over herself, which Ash was pleased to see. Quickly after though Iris pulled Ash close and took hold of both his hands and whispered into his ear "I believe in you..."

The time had finally come, and Ash was feeling inspired. As usual, the announcer shouted the trainers' names before they came onto the battlefield. Ash received a huge cheer as he entered the main battlefield, but Leto's arrival was much more unique. Upon announcing his name the stadium went absolutely silent. The sound of his footsteps being the only thing heard for his entrance. He was the unknown figure, the dark horse. He had an aggressive look in his eye, the whole scenario was very intimidating to Ash.

The official gave the signal for the battle begin. Here goes nothing...

"Go, Charizard!" Ash was going all out attack.

Not a word was muttered from his opposite number, but instead he threw a PokeBall into the air to reveal the daunting figure of an extremely rare Pokemon, Volcarona.

Leto didn't look like one to stand and talk all day so Ash gave himself the first move. The atmosphere started to build up around the stadium, much to Ash's relief, the intimidating silence had subsided.

Charizard started with Flamethrower, lauching a powerful ray of flames towards Volcarona who endured the hit. It was like nothing had even happened, Ash knew what he was in for from this point, not may Pokemon can withstand Charizard's Flamethrower like that. Volcarona made its move soon after, coating itself in electricity, the giant moth sped towards Charizard using Wild Charge. Charizard took to the skies to avoid the oncoming attack but the sheer sped from Volcarona was simply too much, its momentum increasing the strength of the attack massively. Charizard was quickly caught and had no time to make an attack because Volcarona had already bulldozed its way through Charizard, inflicting the shock of electricity all the way through his body. Charizard felt it, the attack had hit hard, Ash could only watch in disbelief as one attack saw Charizard fall to the ground with the electric sparks still around him, he had flown up so high, only to come crashing back down to ground with a huge smash. Charizard wasn't going down in one move though, but getting back up was another matter. Volcarona stayed high up in the skies and was relentless in its next move. Taking in a deep breath, Volcarona let out a Hyper Beam as Charizard managed to get back onto his feet. Again there was no time to react, as once again the attack had landed directly onto him. The impact was so powerful that Charizard was put straight back down into the ground. This time there was no getting up. Ash stood there, unable to take in what he had just saw. The silence kicked in again, the stadium was in shock, Leto showed no change in expression still, despite the battle now working into his favour. Cilan sat there, he was wise enough to realise that maybe this time there wasn't going to be a miracle from Ash. "I'm sorry to say this Iris, but I think he's got it all wrong this time..." Iris sighed "Ash will find a way, he always finds a way..."

Hope had taken a step backwards as Ash reluctantly pulled out his next PokeBall. It was almost as if he didn't want to throw it, but there was no quitting at this point. Now everyone could see why he didn't want to throw it. Out came Snivy. He had picked the wrong Pokemon, but there wasn't any going back. The look of fear was apparent on both Ash and Snivy's faces. Ash remained brave, and ordered Snivy to use Vine Whip to try and get a grip on Volcarona, the moth simply shrugged it off, the attack did absolutely nothing. Volcarona responded with Heat Wave. Fire powered straight through to Snivy, it was super-effective, it was unstoppable. Snivy wasn't trained to be prepared for an attack like that. Ash started to sweat, he couldn't believe that he had got it all wrong so badly. What hurt more was how easily he was getting beaten here. There were no second chances. "Surely not, please no... Snivy get up! Please!" hope was lost. A 1-hit-KO. He couldn't believe he was on the verge of defeat. Iris buried her head in her hands from the stands, she knew it was almost all over.

One more Pokemon remained, this was it. Now or never. His friend from the start. His partner, the one he could rely on was up next. How he would defeat Volcarona was in the clouds, it was Pikachu's turn. When his trainer had almost given up, Pikachu remained brave. He sprinted onto the battlefield and made his presence aware with a huge strike of Thunder. Pikachu was definitely not a push over, the attack was incredibly powerful, this time damage was done. Pikachu continued with Electro Ball, Ash was starting to make inroads while Leto raised an eyebrow. The crowd started to make more noise. Leto knew he had to do something quick as Pikachu was starting to get the better of Volcarona. Suddenly Pikachu flew in with Quick Attack, unfortunately for Ash, this proved to be one mistake too many on the day. The contact Pikachu made had left him burnt. Pikachu would now slowly deteriorate as the battle progressed. It was jackpot for Leto. Volcarona used String Shot, trapping Pikachu in silk. Unable to move, Pikachu stood there, as its health was slowly being taken away from him. Volcarona did nothing. It just hovered there, ominously as Pikachu slowly felt pain. Ash was cornered, the Unova league was on the line. "Pikachu come on! You've got to break free! Use everything you have, we can't give up now! You've got to try!" Shouting encouragement wasn't helping, the burn was only getting worse, Pikachu couldn't take it anymore. He fell to the ground, Volcarona didn't move at all. Silence descended. Ash slowly fell to his knees. He couldn't believe it, he dared to dream, but it was all over. Everything he had worked for, was over. He had felt this feeling before, but not in this way. He had grown so much, for once he genuinely felt that not only had he let himself down, but the people who supported and believed in him. Volcarona burnt off the silk that had trapped Pikachu, so Ash slowly walked up to the yellow mouse, who lied there motionless. He managed to hold back the tears as he picked up his partner. Leto walked over, and shook Ash's hand. "Some things aren't meant to be. One day my friend, one day." said Leto. He still didn't show any sign of emotion as he walked away into the distance. Ash was completely out of it, this was the stuff of his worse nightmares. He slowly walked off the battlefield, still holding Pikachu in his grasp. He vision was starting to become blurry by the tears he was holding back. The crowd didn't forget though, there was no forgetting the excitement that Ash had brought to the Unova league. Despite being knocked out today, everyone was on their feet, applauding Ash and his efforts, he put his hand up to acknowledge them, but he couldn't smile, he only put his hat down to cover his face. He wanted to cry, but didn't want to be seen in public. The worse part of it was that he had gone from feeling on top of the world, right down to the lowest of lows... He approached the lobby, this time Iris wasn't sprinting towards him with excitement. She stood there, she was shaking. Her eyes looked heavy. It was too much, it was far too much. "What am I doing? Surely not now..." he couldn't hold it though, the tears started to fall from both him and Iris as they met into each other's arms. Ash couldn't control himself, he was actually crying with her. They held each other tightly, Ash felt like such a loser, he had let her down. For once she believed in him, only for him to go and screw it up... "I'm so sorry Iris..." he whispered. He had trouble getting his words out he was crying so hard. Iris was experiencing the same problems, she was so distraught to see Ash lose that her tears only made Ash feel worse. She couldn't speak, she just buried her head over Ash's shoulder before they finally put their heads up and looked into each other's eyes. From Ash's view, were two beautiful brown eyes, run down with tears, they looked distraught, and hurt. From Iris' view, were two stunning red eyes, once brimming with confidence, now run down in hurt and distress. Ash didn't want to leave her, it was like in his dream, he couldn't explain it, he only wanted to be around her.

These feelings... what were they? Out of the pain he was going through suddenly came a four letter word that Ash had never heard before...

_Well that ends what was a dark chapter... It also sees the end of Ash's Unova league challenge... His dreams have been smashed, what is he going to do now though?_


	10. Depression

**Chapter 10: Depression**

Ash's world had fallen apart, everything he had worked for was suddenly over. Right in front of him, he was being comforted by his best friend, Iris. She was saddened too, she could feel his disappointment. The tears started to dry up as Ash and Iris sat down to reflect for a minute. "Don't be so upset Ash, you gave it your all..." Iris softly said in an attempt to make Ash feel better.

"I wanted to win for you and everyone who supported me though... I feel like such a let down..." Ash replied while sniffling.

"You've let nobody down." said a voice from the distance. It was Cilan, who had finally made his way down to the lobby. "It's been a long time since the Unova league has seen a trainer with so much flair, excitement and passion. You may have fallen at the quarter finals, but you certainly won't be forgotten." Despite Cilan's words, Ash's mood wasn't lightened. So Cilan suggested that the trio go back to the hotel to rest after a traumatic day.

The report of the battle on the news later that night was very sympathetic towards Ash. They too mentioned at how he was a fans' favourite throughout the tournament after showing his battle. Ash couldn't bare to watch the battle over again, he just wanted to forget about the whole ordeal. Iris, who was sitting next to Ash at the time, saw Ash's head drop quickly to look away from the TV screen. Everything was coming back to him, as he stared into the floor. Iris put her hand affectionately on Ash's shoulder. Cilan, as per usual was concentrating more on housework and cooking, so Ash and Iris had the TV to themselves. "Why don't we watch something different to take your mind off of things?" Iris suggested noticing at how sad Ash was starting to look. He gently nodded as Iris changed the channel over. She flipped off her shoes before snuggling onto the sofa with Ash. The raven haired trainer was surprised at how close she was with him, but he then followed her lead and kicked off his shoes, where he then soon found himself snuggled up with Iris, he didn't know what he was doing, but he did it anyway, he was much more happier now that he had Iris to comfort him. Truth be told, he felt like crap right now. Embarrassed, and overall really disappointed. So it was reassuring to have someone there for him right now, deep down, he really appreciated it. Once Ash had finished removing his shoes and getting comfortable, Iris turned and smiled at Ash with a sincere look on her face. However that smile quickly then turned into a frown as Ash struggled to smile back initially. "Come on Ash can't you crack one smile?" Iris said while yawning. "I just can't right now, I can't think of many reasons to..." Ash replied while looking down to the floor again. "But just think, the stress of the league is over now, you've made your mark and you went out as a fans' favourite... There's always next year... The tension and anxiety is over, we can all relax and have fun now!" she said with a smile while moving her face closer to Ash's face. Ash turned and faced Iris: "so you're not disappointed with me that I lost?" he said softly. Iris smiled and rested her head on Ash's shoulder- "no, you were great, Ash..." she whispered. Ash was relieved to hear that, but he still wondered at whether she was just being nice to make him feel better. He pondered in thought for a moment. "But-" there was no time for buts. Iris had suddenly drifted off to sleep on Ash's shoulder. Cilan chuckled from the kitchen: "try not to wake her!" he whispered. Ash was getting tired, but he didn't know what to do. "Should I carry her to bed or keep her here for the night? He thought to himself. "Bed it is, she'll be much more comfortable there." he thought. Just as he tried to move to pick her up though, he felt the sensation of nails starting to dig into his back. Iris' body began to hold tighter on Ash, yet her expression didn't change. She still looked as if she was fast asleep still, although her actions suggested to Ash that she didn't want to move. Plus Iris' nails were starting to hurt him, so he better keep her where she wants he thought to himself. So it was settled then, well Iris seemingly settled it, Ash would have to sleep on the sofa with Iris for the night. Times like this he usually wanted to be alone, but tonight was an exception. She looked so cute when she was asleep, Ash couldn't deny that fact any longer. He soon found himself running his fingers through her long purple hair, he was surprised at how soft it was, that along with her skin, she was so soft and cuddly, Ash couldn't bare it any longer. He was genuinely falling asleep in Iris' arms. He didn't know why he was allowing himself to do this, but it felt so right... His eyelids started to slowly fall as he would soon say goodbye to what has been a day to forget. He held onto Iris like a teddy bear, he shut his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep...

Cilan watched on from the kitchen, the truth was that he had finished his work 10 minutes ago, and that he had just stood there, leaning against the wall while watching Ash and Iris together. The coast was clear, both of them were asleep. This was his moment that he had waited what felt like an eternity for. He slowly tip-toed over to the sofa, and changed over to the cooking channel on the TV. He put his feet up and relaxed, he was now in heaven!

Cilan was fully aware now though that both Ash and Iris had feelings for each other, although whether they would ever admit their feelings to each other is a different matter. Cilan knew a perfect time and place for that to happen, he would suggest his idea when the opportunity came tomorrow, for now though, at 3am, it was time to call it a night...

The sun popped up, and another day had begun. This would be the final competitive day of the Unova league, the semi-finals would take place from the morning until the afternoon before the final would take place in the evening. Cilan was the first to wake up, upon entering the room he quickly noticed that Ash and Iris were still asleep on the sofa, only this time, they were much closer than when he left them before he went to bed. They were both still holding onto each other, but they now had their faces pressed against each other. Despite recent events for Ash, he actually looked quite happy where he was. The battles weren't going to get under way for another hour, so Cilan could give both of them time to wake up, he didn't want to disturb them at all, they looked almost _too _comfortable with each other considering they see each other as only 'good friends'...

Twenty minutes later, Iris finally began to awaken. She slowly opened her eyes to find Ash closer to her than ever. They were still both lying on the sofa, but Ash was still asleep and holding tight. "Isn't he cute..." she thought to herself. As much as she loved being in this position, Ash was making it very difficult for her to move. Every time she tried to get up, Ash would naturally hold on tighter as if he didn't want her to go. The two of them couldn't stay there forever though, so Iris had to try and wake Ash up... She gently stroked his raven hair, "wake up Ash..." she whispered, as softly as she could into his ear. Minutes later, he slowly started to open his eyes. His muscles ached, he was so worn out, he slowly put his head up to find where he was and who he was with. He rubbed his eyes to find himself lying on a sofa with his arms wrapped tightly around Iris with his face against hers. He had completely forgotten how he got into this position in the first place, and quickly panicked. He quickly jumped out of his position, allowing Iris to move. "Uhh, I'm sorry, how did we even end up here?!" Iris giggled, "we both fell asleep, silly!" Ash looked confused. "But why did we have our arms around each other..." Iris giggled again- "you tell me!" Ash didn't reply after that, he knew full well that Iris was teasing him into admitting that he wanted to hug her the entire night.

After going through the having breakfast, having a wash and getting dressed phase that the trio had become used to every morning, they could finally make the short trip to the stadium to watch the final battles of the tournament. Along the way, the trio met up with all their friends who had also been competing in the Unova leauge whom had also been knocked out. With the stadium at the bottom of the hill, the trio met up with Cameron and Virgil. "Hey Ash, long time no see! I saw you got knocked out by that Leto guy, he looked super strong! Hey, are you looking forward to tonight? It's going to be crazy!" Cameron said, he was really excited and energetic as usual. "Of course I am! I can't wait!" Ash replied, he assumed that Cameron was talking about the final, however he was referring to something completely different.

Once they had arrived in the lobby, they encountered Bianca, who had come rushing over to greet everybody. Minutes later, a hot and sweaty Stefan appeared from the saunas. They sat down in the lobby and talked about how their battles went for a bit before taking their seats in the stadium ahead of the start of the first semi-final battle. Once they sat down, they soon realised that Trip would be sitting next to them as well! "Oh hey everyone, good to see you all! I can't wait to get involved for tonight!" Trip said in an uncharacteristically enthusiastic manner.

"Yeah, I'll be there of course!" Stefan replied.

"Me too!" Bianca happily cheered

"It's gonna be crazy!" Cameron shouted

"It should be quite interesting" Virgil added.

Ash suddenly looked confused. "Hey Trip, what do you mean get involved? We've all been knocked out?"

Trip laughed for a bit. "I'm not talking about the final Ash!" the whole group except for Iris and Cilan laughed. Ash looked bemused still.

"No, I'm on about the after-party!"

"What?! That's today?!" The after-party had only been an idea to Ash until he suddenly realised that it would be today. The whole situation escalated rather too quickly for him.

"I guess you've only just found out so I'll let you know of the arrangements. We're all going to watch the semi-finals together before going back to our rooms to get ready. We're then going to meet up here again to watch the final before the closing ceremony and then finally the after-party gets underway." Virgil explained.

"That sounds good..." Ash responded.

"So are you going?" Cameron asked.

Ash had been down recently, so this might well be the event that completely takes the disappointment off his mind.

"Um, I don't know yet, I'll have to let you know..."

The group seemed disappointed, but alas they sat there and watched the four semi-final battles take place.

After 2 hours of intense action, the battles were finally over. Leto, who had beaten Ash in the quarter finals had absolute destroyed his opponent. It was the same story with him using Volcarona, only this time they were all 1-Hit-KOs and Volcarona sustained absolutely no damage at all. Ash was happy to see that Leto was just a very strong trainer and it wasn't down to him being weak. As the semi-finals finished, everyone's money was on Leto to wipe the floor against his opponent in the final. Soon the group dispersed, all agreeing to meet up in the same place in the evening ahead of the finals. Back in the lobby, there was loads of people all trying to make their way out the stadium at once. Iris had gotten herself lost amongst the huge crowds, until she felt someone take her hand. She looked up, it was Ash. He had taken her over to a quiet corner. "What is he doing?" she thought to herself.

Once everyone had gone, Iris looked up at Ash. He looked slightly embarrassed, with his hands behind his back. He was facing down, once again staring into the floor; until he suddenly looked up:

"Iris... Would you go to the after-party with me?" he asked softly.

Those words shocked her, she gasped in disbelief. Did he really just say that? She blushed, her eyes sparkled, her smile stretching from cheek to cheek...

She didn't need to think twice about her answer.

"Yes..!"


	11. The Calm Before The Storm

_Sorry for the short chapter here, I've had migraines over the past few days so I haven't really been able to go on the computer much... I'm off school for two weeks now though, so hopefully I'll be able to finish this story before Easter's over :) Would just like to take this opportunity to say I hope that everyone's having a good Easter! _

**Chapter 11: The calm before the storm**

The afternoon took ages to pass, Ash, Iris and Cilan sat there in their rooms, ahead of the big after-party that would officially bring the Unova league to an end. Iris was still buzzing from earlier, she couldn't believe that _he _actually asked her out. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined being asked out by anyone, she never had any admirers, which led to her losing a lot of confidence in herself. Making friends also proved to be difficult too for her, but ever since she met Ash Ketchum, everything has changed, and only now has she fully realised it.

Iris walked into her room where Axew noticed the beaming expression on his trainer's face. "What are you so happy about?" Axew asked

"Ash just asked me out to the after-party!" Iris replied while grinning

Axew paused for a minute in amazement. "Wow, I must have missed a lot" he thought to himself.

"What are you going to wear?" Axew asked.

Iris looked puzzled for a second. "What do you mean? I thought we could all just wear normal clothes..."

"You want to look good don't you? Besides I saw Trip and the others buying suits a few hours ago..."

"Really?! What am I going to do..?"

"Why don't we go to the shops, I mean this afternoon is dragging isn't it? Let's go!"

_Meanwhile in Ash's room..._

Ash had just gotten a text, it was from Trip. _"We're all going to be looking smart tonight! You ready for it?"_

Ash's heart skipped a beat. We're meant to look smart?! The sound of Pikachu's facepalm caught Ash's attention. "We've got time Ash, let's go and get a suit quickly!" Pikachu exclaimed. Ash and Pikachu popped out into town quickly where Pikachu soon found out why Ash was so keen on setting a good impression for tonight.

"Why are you so keen on getting a suit? We don't need to rush like this..!" Pikachu asked while trying to keep up with his trainer.

"I kind of asked Iris to the after-party earlier..."

"Wow, have you been drinking?"

"No, I don't even know how I just went in and asked her out like that... I hope I don't end up regretting it... I suppose I really do like her..."

"Well she probably feels the same way after I saw you two all over each other the other night!"

Sweat dropped from Ash's face, it wasn't such a secret then after all... Come to think of it, Cilan was in the kitchen the whole time, surely he would've seen? Pikachu looked at Ash as if to say "he definitely did", Ash looked embarrassed upon realising this. Speaking of Cilan, he was still back in the apartment...

His phone went off, he had a text message. "Oh God... Why?!" he shouted in disbelief. He threw himself over the sofa, examining the message. "Of all people, just not now..." he sighed. It seemed he might not exactly be alone at the after-party, the sender of the message was unmistakable... Cilan locked his phone and put it down again, before getting back up and staring out of the window: "Burgundy..."

Things weren't going so well for Iris, she was struggling to decide on what to wear, much to Axew's frustration. "C'mon, you look good in all of them dresses! Can't we just go now? I'm hungry..."

"Oh I can't choose!"

"He'll be flattered to see you've made an effort, let's just go..."

"Okay..." Iris wasn't sure with her choice, as her rare shopping spree was interrupted by a vibration in her pocket. She had a new message. _"Did you have fun watching Ash lose miserably? Still with that weak little Axew and that Dragonite which doesn't even listen to you? I'll just have to see for myself, as I'll be seeing you tonight!" _Iris felt her blood boil, only one person was capable of annoying her like that. Georgia... She picked up a dress, quickly paid for it, and then stormed off with Axew chasing after her dust. "Why can't I just have a normal night?" she asked herself...

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Ash couldn't tell the different between all of variety of suits and Tuxedos, so he thought he'd just go and buy the first Tuxedo he could find. Excited by his purchase, he noticed Iris walking back to the apartment with Axew.

"Hey, you've been shopping too?" Iris turned around and asked, she didn't expect Ash to be out. Ash held up his shopping bag and winked. Iris still didn't look 100% happy, much to Ash's curiosity.

"What's up? We've got to start getting dressed soon!"

"Um well Georgia said she's going to be there..."

Ash looked a little annoyed. "Well, there's going to be a lot of people there, so we might not see her at all..." Iris sighed. The two walked back into the apartment to get ready, as soon the big night would be under way.

They opened the door to find Cilan admiring himself in the mirror, he had obviously been grooming himself while both of them were out. His shoes were polished to the point where you could see your own face in them; his shirt was as white as Reshiram, while his scent was as strong as ever. He gave a confident smile. "Better start getting ready you two!" The sight of Cilan was motivating towards Ash and Iris, who rushed into their rooms to start getting ready. Iris quickly grew into a panic, she suddenly felt extremely pressured.

"Axew quick! Have you got any perfume? What about earrings? Ah! Do I need make-up? Does he like make-up? Will I being trying too hard if I put make-up on? Will he not like that? Should I just look natural? Does this dress look okay? Quick help! I can't get the security tag off! Why did I even buy this in the first place? Does my hair look okay? SINCE WHEN DID IT GET THAT LONG?! Should I cut it? No didn't he say he liked it longer? Wait, did he _actually_ say that or am I just imagining things? Do I look fat or is it just the mirror? AXEW ANSWER ME!" Iris was bouncing off the walls with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. She was obviously worried about tonight. Cilan was wondering what was going on from Iris' room, because Ash's room was a lot more quiet...

He stood there in front of the mirror, staring at himself, with no expression on his face at all. He had put his Tuxedo on, and was feeling very satisfied with how he looked, something wasn't quite right though... All of Ash's Pokemon were out of their PokeBalls, marvelling at the sight of Ash wearing something different for once. Then, an event that none of them could've predicted occurred. Ash looked down onto the table, and reached down. Everyone's eyes widened. He couldn't be could he..? He was. He was reaching down for the comb, everyone's jaw was now dropped at this point. The room went completely silent, Ash started to run the comb slowly though his hair. "Woah..." everyone muttered. "Ash is actually combing his hair. He must be taking this really seriously..." Pikachu thought to himself. Ash turned around, wondering what all of the silence was about. "Do I look alright?" he asked. All of his Pokemon just stood there with their mouths wide open, slowly nodding. Ash was puzzled over what was actually going through their minds, but their nod of approval was enough to satisfy him. Once he had felt he was ready he opened the door to suddenly see Cilan waiting right behind the door in anticipation- he didn't look disappointed. "Wow Ash you look great!" Cilan beamed

"Thanks Cilan, you too! What's taking Iris so long though?" She was still rushing around the room, fretting over how she looked, until Ash came knocking on the door. "Iris, you ready yet? We've got to get going real soon!" Ash cried. Iris gasped, she didn't realise the time. "Uhh coming! Just give me a few more minutes!" she replied. Ash and Cilan weren't quite sure whether she would take a few minutes or a few hours with the way she's been acting today. Time soon passed and something had to be done...

"She's your lady, Ash." Cilan winked at Ash before giving him a little nudge. Ash glared back at Cilan, where he laughed. "I don't think you've quite realised what you've gotten yourself into here..." Cilan said while chuckling. Cilan was starting to get patronising, so Ash thought he'd look tough for once. He knocked on the door again- "Iris come on! We're going to be late!" he shouted. "I'm sorry!" Iris was panicking more than ever, so Ash thought he'd just have to walk in to see what all the fuss was about. He slowly twisted the door knob and opened the door. Iris heard the door opening out of the corner of her eye and almost felt her heart stop. She was really embarrassed, and was blushing a lot, now she had to turn around and face whoever was there. Ash walked in, Iris turned around. Right in front of Ash was Iris, but different. She was dressed in a long purple dress, she looked amazing. Her hair looked beautiful, Ash stood there in amazement. "Wow..." he muttered under his breath. Suddenly he felt as if he liked her even more, she took his breath away in a matter of seconds. In front of Iris, was a handsome young man in a black Tuxedo, with his hair combed. It wasn't often that she saw him without his hat, but after he took it off and combed, his raven hair looked perfect. Then there was his smile, as innocent as ever yet full of heart. She looked into his eyes, "H-How do I-I look?" she said while blushing. There were too many words going through Ash's mind, he couldn't say them all at once. "Perfect..." he spoke softly. Her face lit up, her mood swung and now all of a sudden she was really happy. "I'm ready now, let's go!" she took Ash's hand as the trio finally set off to the stadium of the Unova league, for the final time.

The sun was starting to go down as the sky turned orange, the temperature had cooled from being baking hot to warm with a cool breeze. There was a friendly and chilled atmosphere around the stadium, where rivalries had ended as just two trainers remained in the Unova league. It was a pleasant place to be around, as everyone was getting along with each other, the tense and suspenseful days of trash talking were all over. There they were, as soon as the trio walked into the lobby they saw their friends who they had all met on their journey throughout Unova. Bianca, Trip, Cameron, Stefan, and Virgil stood there, all grinning. Bianca was wearing a long green dress while the boys were wearing Tuxedos with everyone having a different colour bow tie on. Everyone in the lobby were all in smart clothes, much to Ash and Iris' relief- they only just found out about wearing smart clothes earlier!

"Good to see you guys!" said Stefan

"Sorry to keep you all waiting!" Ash replied

"Yeah sorry, I took a while getting dressed..." Iris added.

Bianca laughed- "I took ages too!"

Trip sneered, "must be a girl thing..!"

"Hey the battle's almost about to begin, shall we go and take our seats?"

The group agreed and went to take their seats in a packed stadium. The sun was starting to go down as the final of the Unova league got under way. For the next half an hour was a demonstration of power and ability between the two top trainers in the Unova region. It was a familiar story though as the crowd watched in awe over Leto's immense strength with Volcarona. Once again it was on top form and easily breezed past all over its opponent's Pokemon. "Wow, at least you can say that you were the only one who did serious damage to that Volcarona, Ash!" Cameron cheered as Leto wrapped up a comfortable victory. It was so straight forward for Leto. Who soon proudly lifted the Unova leauge trophy. Ash couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that it wasn't him down there lifting the trophy, but he had to pick himself up, besides there was a party soon following this!

The group watched in amazement as the closing ceremony began, the fireworks lit the air, where Ash and Iris started edging closer to each other. Ash felt a way he had never felt before now. Despite failing to win the Unova league, he somehow felt, complete... It was a moment he felt that he would treasure for the rest of his life. One of his favourite memories- sitting there close to Iris, with all of his best friends around him, each and every one of them a character and personality that he'll never forget. All of them watching the fireworks, as the sun sank into the night. Just then, an overwhelming reality hit him. Everyone has their own paths, and some days their paths cross with other people's paths, which is why he now knows everyone that was sitting around him... Yet those paths soon advance and lead off into their own different directions... The thought of it hit Ash hard. Trip, Bianca, Stefan, Virgil and Cameron. He would all have to say goodbye to them at one point in the future. The worst part of it is though that he knew deep down, that day is very near. It doesn't get any better though. The crushing realisation hit him that he would soon have to say goodbye to Cilan, and even more painfully, Iris. It struck Ash that tonight would be his last night with everyone together. Better make it count...

Ash's melancholic thoughts were interrupted by the end of the fireworks display, where everyone soon left their seats and began making their way down to the venue of the after-party. Iris grabbed hold of Ash's hand and smiled. It seemed he was the only person to completely realise the future ahead of him.

The bright lights of Unova were now on full beam as the party started, the music started playing, as the night was only beginning...

Iris looked at Ash nervously, both of them were taking a step into the unknown...


	12. The Night Of All Nights

_Blimey, you don't know how hard it is to write this while trying to think in an American accent! I didn't want this turning out like my others, as I've tried to keep it real to the dub. But if you do read anything weird then that's me just being me- I apologise in advance, (so Leave it Yeah.) Here we go then, the final stages of the story... Enjoy! _

**Chapter 12: The Night Of All Nights**

Finally, the night was truly under way. Ash and Iris looked at each other, a hint of awkwardness filled the air.

"So what do we actually do..?" Iris asked, looking embarrassed.

"Beats me..." Ash responded. Both of them were all dressed up for the occasion, but had no clue on what they'd actually do. "Y'see, this is my first time at something like this..." Iris continued.

"Yeah I hear ya, why don't we go and see what else is going on?" Ash replied with a confident smile on his face. Iris felt reassured by this as suddenly Ash took Iris' hand. The two dashed off into the crowd, where Iris found herself blushing at the sight of Ash holding her hand, what would it look like to everyone else?

"I knew it!" Stefan said while laughing.

"Looks like you _were _right after all then..." Virgil replied.

"Wasn't it obvious?" Trip added while smirking.

"Wow they're so cute!" Bianca added, her eyes sparkling. She was overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the party, she couldn't quite contain herself. The group had spotted Ash and Iris running past them while holding hands, which fuelled speculation that they were in a relationship with each other. It looked obvious enough; they were there _together_, they were holding hands, it was all simple enough really. Bianca quickly felt her heart racing and her legs starting to jiggle up and down. She couldn't contain herself.

"Hey! Ash! Iris! Over here!" she called both of them over. Ash quickly stopped in his tracks, relieved to see his friends, although the look on their faces was somewhat intriguing. Then he realised just what the two of them looked like to the others. Trying to hide his embarrassment, he quickly turned to Iris. "Hey look, there they are! Let's go over there and say hi." Iris could read Ash like a book though. He was covering up his own embarrassment, he wasn't getting off lightly with this. "Do you think that they think that we're together?" Iris questioned while Ash rushed her over. Ash struggled to process those mouthful of words while running over to the group. "Probably" he gave a half-hearted answer.

When he reached the group his expression was noticeable, he was very pleased to see all of them. Iris was acting strangely shy, almost as if she was looking over Ash's shoulder the whole time. By now they had released their hands from each other, but Cameron felt prompted to say something while he could. "So are you two having a good time together?" he asked. With a flick of the nose and a wink, Ash and Iris knew exactly what he was on about. Both of them quickly blushed and looked at each other before quickly turning away after making eye contact. Stefan eased the awkwardness with the sound of his laughter. "What are you two hiding from us?" he smirked, trying to get them to confess, when in reality both Ash and Iris hadn't even confessed to each other yet. "We're not together, honest!" Iris panicked. Trip quickly slapped a hand over Ash's shoulder and whispered into his ear: "Don't worry you've got the whole night to break the ice." Ash put on a fake smile, where the thought bared down on him even harder. "Will I have to confess to her? I might not get another chance to..." he thought to himself. Then one thing suddenly struck him, it was the way out, short-term relief, the key to lock a temporary door. "Where's Cilan?" he suddenly cried out of the blue. The group had only just realised the absence of their green haired friend.

"Wow, those two ran off too quickly for me. There sure are a lot of people here." the connoisseur thought to himself. He was enjoying the relaxing vibe of the party, although couldn't hide the fact from himself that he would really appreciate company right now. "It's strange." he said to himself. "When you're alone you can't help but notice happy couples everywhere, I mean just look at Ash and Iris! Funny how when you're with people though you always tend to notice people on their own..." Then he saw her. Out of the hundreds of people in the party right now, she was the last person he wanted to see. There she was, storming towards him. "What a dreary effort from a supposed A-Class connoisseur!" it was Burgundy, as critical as ever of Cilan. "If you're talking about what I'm wearing, then you're not wearing anything different either!" he responded cheerfully. "Where are your other friends?" she asked sharply. "I don't know, they ran off too quickly." he responded. Burgundy sneered. "So you're alone..." Cilan gulped, this was quickly turning into a nightmare. "Yes, I suppose I am..." he still managed to maintain his discipline, despite being in a very uncomfortable situation. "Well why don't you show this C-Class connoisseur some A-Class connoisseur dancing!" she quickly grabbed both of his hands and dragged him over to the main dance floor area. Cilan literally wanted to kill himself at this point, it was shameful and embarrassing. Everyone could see him now. He was on display to everyone, including Ash, Iris, and the rest of the gang...

After a few minutes of wondering where Cilan had gone, the group's doubts and worries were brought to an end by a surprising sight. "Look there he is!" Iris cried. "Who's he dancing with?" Virgil questioned. "Woah is that Burgundy?" Ash cried out, he was right. The entire group laughed at the tragic sight of seeing Cilan reluctantly dance with Burgundy. They may have been watching from the distance, but his face told a thousand words. You could just about make out "help me" from his lips. The whole group were laughing at his expense. "Shall we go and help him out?" Cameron asked while confused. Ash burst out laughing, "he'll be fine!" The group left Cilan to enjoy his evening, which put an end to the small-talk that covered up the group's questions about Ash and Iris. Stefan was beginning to feel inspired though, and suddenly shouted "Man, that dance floor sure does look lively, let's go, gang!" he shouted before charging over there. The group soon followed, where Ash and Iris quickly glanced at each other. Ash's confidence was growing by the minute, he could feel himself looking into her eyes, he was no longer scared. "Why not?" he laughed, Iris smiled back before the two ran over to the dance floor.

The atmosphere was electric there, everyone was forgetting their embarrassment and shyness and dancing with no care in the world. Even Team Rocket were there; instead of hatching another plan to steal one of their Pokemon, they seemed back to their comical ways for once. Iris was shocked to see the trio all over the karaoke machine. What was more surprising is that they were actually pretty good singers! "Wow, I haven't seen Team Rocket like this before!" Iris beamed at Ash. He laughed briefly. "Just like the old days..."

Stefan was nowhere to be seen, although the last time the two looked around Bianca, Virgil, Cameron and Trip were all just talking to each other. How quickly things can change. Ash turned around again to see Bianca and Virgil dancing in each other's arms, while Cameron and Trip were having a right laugh on the floor, spinning each other around and pretending to break dance while laughing their heads off! The pair then quickly noticed that their Pokemon had found their way onto the stage. Pikachu and Snivy were dancing together, while Oshawott was a natural with Emolga. All the others were prancing around, burning off all of their energy. Ash and Iris couldn't help but smile, everyone was having fun. Ash was keen on not to be left out, so he immediately reached for Iris' hands, and smiled. "Do you know how to dance?" he asked. She put her head down and blushed. "I'll take that as a "no", don't be such a kid, you _can _talk to me you know!" Ash added while smirking. Iris had no time to react as the pair of them were now dancing away in each other's arms. She was shocked, maybe he picked it up from that Gothitelle from their 'date' at Nimbasa City, because Ash knew exactly what he was doing. She felt so comfortable in his arms, it just felt... right. She stopped being so shy, looked up and gazed into Ash's eyes. The two of them gazed at each other while dancing, forgetting everything around them, only concentrating on each other. The music changed to a slower song, as she rested her head in Ash's chest. She wanted to hold on forever, but there was something that caught her mind that worried her, where do the two of them (and Cilan) go on from here? Ash has practically completed his quest in Unova, while soon Iris will have to make a call on whether she wants to be the gym leader at Opelucid City. What Cilan wants to do is still unknown, she hadn't asked him, she couldn't really ask him now either in this situation. Where she was right now though, she couldn't imagine leaving Ash. She slowly opened her mouth and began to softly speak. "Ash... I was just wondering-" she was quickly cut off. One minute she was dancing with Ash, the next she was crashing towards the floor. "Look where you're going, get out my way!" screamed a voice. Iris opened her eyes slowly, she was suddenly lying on the floor. "Are you alright..?" Ash said slowly, offering a hand to help her get back up. "Why can't you just piss off for once?" the voice screamed again. It was Georgia, the so-called "Dragon Buster". Iris looked up, her eyes lit with rage. She was through with it. She was tired of Georgia getting in her way. She quickly snubbed Ash's hand and sprung back up onto her feet. To everyone's shock, Iris swung a fist right around Georgia's face. Iris herself couldn't quite believe her own actions, she could only assume it happened out of sheer frustration. Ash was equally as shocked, while Georgia was looking frighteningly angry. Ash was quick to hold Iris back, he didn't want a fight to start, luckily the scene went unnoticed amongst the huge crowd. Realising what she had done, she quickly ran off with tears falling from her eyes.

She was a fast runner, but Ash was keen not to lose her. She sprinted towards the stadium, before leaping onto the roof of the arena. Ash was surprised at how she managed to get onto the roof that quickly, but his determination made up for it as he soon joined her up there. The two of them were incredibly high up, but neither of them were scared. She sat there with her legs dangling off the rooftop, she was completely oblivious to Ash following her. He slowly walked towards her, the wind was gentle, but it was very cold up there. He slowly sat down beside her. The view was amazing. It was incredibly dark on the rooftop, but it overlooked the party, where lights of all different colours shone directly below them. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Hey..." he said softly.

"Hey..." she replied.

Silence fell for a few minutes, before Iris decided to break the silence.

"I'm really sorry at what happened back there, my temper got the better of me..." she said slowly, she looked really guilty and upset.

"Don't worry about me... Are you alright?" Ash reassuringly replied.

"I feel terrible... Everyone's down below us having fun, while I'm up here crying. I'm sorry... I'm just wasting your time aren't I..?" she replied, her tears kept falling.

"Iris... Don't you remember..? I asked _you _to come with _me_... I just wanted to be with _you _for the evening... It's painful for me to see you crying like this..." Ash then tensed himself briefly and looked up at the moon which shone brightly; before turning to Iris and gazing into her beautiful brown eyes. He took a huge intake in breath and finally let out three words that he had been waiting to tell Iris for a while...

"The truth is Iris... I love you..." he said softly.

A bell suddenly rung out around the area, the clock had struck midnight. Iris' eyes widened, she couldn't believe what he had just said. Suddenly her world lit up. She couldn't bare it any longer, she was so seduced by his beautiful amber eyes gazing into hers that she almost felt inclined to give up her secrets. The wind began to blow slightly stronger, blowing Iris' tears away from her face.

"... I love you too" she whispered, with the wind carrying her voice. Ash couldn't believe that he had confessed, and that she had feelings for him too. Likewise with Iris, she was surprised at how Ash suddenly expressed himself like that. Ash's sadness from the Unova league had completely vanished from him. Iris' sadness at hitting Georgia had completely vanished from her. The two were complete. Then, as the wind died down, they slowly leaned into kiss each other, while alone on the rooftop of the Unova league stadium, overlooking the after-party. Iris felt her heart race as Ash's lips met hers, while Ash could feel adrenaline surging around his body. They separated and look into each other's eyes. 24 hours ago, the thought of kissing each other was a crazy idea, how quickly things can change.

"What was it you were going to say earlier?" Ash asked, curious over what she was wondering about.

"Oh yeah..." she looked down and frowned.

"Now that the Unova league has finished, what are you going to do now?" she asked.

Ash sighed and thought to himself for a moment.

"I haven't really thought about it... I might return to Kanto, and see how everyone is doing there... The truth is, I do miss them from time to time. Who knows, maybe Professor Oak will have found another region for me to travel to by then... But I really don't know... What are you going to do..?"

Iris went blank.

"I have a really big choice to make... Drayden has been considering putting me as the Opelucid gym leader... If I'm going to become a Dragon Master, then that would definitely help me achieve my dream. But on the other hand... I don't want to leave you Ash... Why do I have to make these decisions?!" she started to cry again. Ash gently placed an arm around her.

"Do you really think you're ready? You've got all of the time in the world... You don't need to commit to something like that right now do you..? I don't want to leave you either... I don't want to leave any of you... I've had to say goodbye to friends in the past... It hurts. Iris, you're different... I don't want to have to say goodbye to you..." just then, tears began to fall on Ash's face as well. Iris rested her head on his shoulder.

"I suppose I have a small team still... and Axew is still quite young..."

"What d'ya say then..." Ash whispered, nervous at what her decision would be.

"The gym can wait, I still have a lot more to see... Ash, let's go to Kanto..." she looked up at him, they both smiled, before leaning in to kiss again.

"Why don't we go back down there, it's getting late, but the night's not over yet..." he suggested, noticing at how the crowd was starting to subside. Everyone was starting to go home, only a few people remained at the party.

Once they had got back down to where the party was, they noticed that the gang from earlier were still there, Team Rocket had fallen asleep by a set of trees, while Stefan was sleeping on the dance floor with his shirt off- he obviously had a good night. Bianca had her head buried in Virgil's chest, they looked pretty comfortable with each other. While Trip and Cameron were tired from releasing all of their energy. Their Pokemon appeared to have made their way back to their rooms, while Cilan had disappeared again.

"Hey Cameron, do you know where Cilan is?" Ash asked

Cameron shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me" he replied.

"Oh well, wherever he is, I'm sure he's having fun with Burgundy!" Iris added. The group laughed for a moment, before Trip came in.

"I knew you two were together." he pointed out at the two both holding hands. Ash and Iris looked at each other and laughed briefly.

"Well you're right about it now..!" Ash replied while smiling.

"So where are you two off to now the Unova league has finished?" Trip asked.

"We're off to Kanto- my home region!" Ash proudly announced.

Everyone's face lit up in excitement, it even caught the attention of Virgil and Bianca.

"That's where we're off to as well!" Cameron cheered.

"That's great! But wait, Trip- I thought you didn't like Kanto?" Iris asked.

Trip chuckled for a bit. "I guess I'll have to see if that stereotype is true or not!"

"Is Stefan coming too?" Ash questioned.

"Yeah he should be, that's if he ever wakes up!" Cameron replied. The group laughed again. Inside, Ash was jumping for joy. It looks like he won't be saying goodbye any time soon after all!

"I can't wait! I'll tell you this though guys, I'm going to call it a night before I end up like ol' Stefan over there, I'll see you all in the morning!" Cameron said. The others all agreed to call it a night, where eventually they all left, except for Stefan, who was sleeping soundly on the floor. It left Ash and Iris there on the dance floor together, alone. The music had stopped playing, while the lights were fading. The spotlight stayed on them.

"Ash... Thank you for tonight..." she said while pulling Ash close towards her. He didn't have any time to reply, as she pulled him in to kiss her. They stood there, kissing passionately for a few minutes, enjoying their time alone together, knowing that they both had a future to look forward to. When they pulled away from each other, Ash whispered "I love you" into Iris' ear, before she took his hand where they walked back to the hotel to finish what had been an amazing night; The night of all nights...

The morning came, and everyone was tired from last night. Ash and Iris woke up together on the sofa, still in each other's arms just like that night before the quarter final. Cilan walked in rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning everyone, you don't know how happy I am to see all of you..." he said weakly, he obviously had quite a night by the sounds of it.

"Wow, Cilan what happened?" Iris said in shock to see him.

"I don't quite know what had gotten into Burgundy, but she wouldn't leave me alone for the whole night. The rest I don't really want to talk about..." he replied. Ash and Iris weren't keen to go into detail about Cilan's affair, so they spared him his dignity.

Ash cleared his throat.

"Cilan. Iris and I have decided we're both going to head off to Kanto. Do you want to come with us?"

Cilan's face lit up.

"Definitely! The gym will be fine, it's probably closed down by now anyway. Plus, I'll do anything to get away from that Burgundy..." Just as he said that, his phone rang. Speak of the devil, it was her. Cilan started to shake as he picked the phone up, he felt inclined to answer for reasons unknown.

"Uh-hello?"

"Cilan! You're off to somewhere aren't you! Don't play games with me as I'll eventually find out! Where are you going to?!" Burgundy hassled Cilan, causing him to panic.

"Ah! Um we're all heading to Johto! See ya there!" just as he said that he slammed the phone down, hanging up. He let out a huge sigh of relief.

Ash and Iris burst out laughing.

"Wow, she's going to be in for a shock!" Ash said while laughing.

"I'm so glad I did that..." Cilan replied, laughing back.

The trio soon packed their things up and got ready to depart. The Unova league would hold good and bad memories for Ash. He may have lost, but he'll always remember being on the rooftop, alone with Iris.

They stepped outside, and headed towards the ship to Kanto. There waiting for them, were Bianca, Cameron, Stefan, Trip and Virgil. Ash and Iris smiled at each other, while Cilan blocked Burgundy's number from his phone.

There they departed, to the future.

_So we now lead on towards the Kanto saga... Well that is the end of the story! I hope you've enjoyed it. I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed the story, your feedback has been fantastic. Plus I would like to thank everyone who has actually read the story! I've got plenty more NegaiShipping FanFics still to come, so I'll see ya later!_


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